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Hollinger Corp. 
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



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! . ? BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1919, No. 4 



A MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL 
LEGISLATION 

FOR THE GUIDANCE OF COMMITTEES ON 
EDUCATION IN THE STATE LEGISLATURES 



Prepared under the direction of the Rural Division 
United States Bureau of Education 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1919 



— n 



ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

"WASHINGTON, D. C. 

A 

10 CENTS PER COPY 
V 



^.. Of l\ 
JAN 21 



t- V<1 



6 



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CONTENTS 



I. Purpose and scope: Page. 

The after- war period and national progress 5 

How the emergency may be met 6 

II. General analysis of school organization and administration: 

State educational organization 8 

State boards of education •. 8 

State department of education • 10 

Units of organization for the management of the schools 13 

III. School population, enrollment, and attendance: 

School census 19 

Compulsory ages 20 

School enrollment and length of term 22 

* Children in and out of school 24 

IV. Rural school organization 28 

The modern one-teacher school 29 

The consolidated school 29 

Rural high schools 30 

V. School finances 31 

State and county taxation 31 

The county, the tax unit for general school maintenance 34 

A State-wide tax eminently just ' 35 

Public education involves continually growing expenses 36 

VI. Physical education: 

The war's revelation of the need 38 

Principles of effective State legislation 38 

Principles governing State legislation for physical education 38 

VII. School grounds and buildings 41 

Provisions for suitable buildings and their use 43 

Plans for buildings to be provided by State 43 

Schools, plans, and specifications ". 44 

VIIT. Preparation of teachers 46 

Reasonable standards for teacher preparation 47 

Radical steps required to provide the necessary supply of rural teachers. . 47 

IX. Certification of teachers: 

Centralizing teacher certification in the State departments of education. . 48 

Requirements for certification 49 

Specialization a requisite for certification 50 

Plan of certification 50 

X. Teachers' salaries, tenure, and retirement pensions 52 

School tenure 55 

Teachers' retirement pensions 55 

XI. School textbooks 59 

Questions of State uniformity of textbooks 60 

History of free textbooks " 61 

Advisability of State-wide adoption and use of liberal supplementary 

lists 64 

Question of advisability of publication of textbooks by the State 64 

Some points for consideration in framing laws governing textbooks 65 

3 



A MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



L— PURPOSE AND SCOPE. 

The purpose of this manual is to place in the hands of the educa- 
tional committees of the 44 State legislatures that convene in 1919 
a suggestive program of educational legislation based upon the present 
emergency in our national life. 

Each topic discussed falls, as a rule, under three distinct heads: (1) 
Historic background; (2) Summary of present organization or status; 
and (3) Reasonable standards of attainment. 

THE AFTER- WAR PERIOD AND NATIONAL PROGRESS. 

The legislatures in their present session will have to deal with many 
vitally important educational problems, some of them of long stand- 
ing, but which now, in the light of war experience, have received new 
vital importance, and others resulting from the great issues of the war. 

1. The first problem is that the schools shall be made to serve 
America as a nation more completely than now. This involves not 
only school education in its generally accepted understanding, but 
includes the whole problem of ''Americanization." 

There are in the United States nearly 6,000,000 persons over 10 year's of age unable 
to read or wiite (700,000 of them young men who were liable to recent draft laws). 
Fifty-eight per cent of these illiterates are white persons ; 28 per cent are native-born 
whites, and 30 per cent are foreign-born whites; 40 per cent of the rest are Negroes. 

To educate all its people without exception is both the duty and the right of democ- 
racy. If these people have been deprived of educational opportunities in their youth, 
it is the duty of the Nation to extend this blessing to them now in their years of ma- 
turity; if these people have neglected theii' earlier opportunities, democracy has the 
right to demand that they correct the deficiency with public assistance at once. 

2. The second problem is concerned with the health of the Nation. 
The war has disclosed many things in regard to physical health that 
we are loath to talk about. Medical examinations of the war draft at 
home and in the cantonments disclose (a) that under the first selec- 
tive draft 730,756 men were rejected for pbysical reasons; {h) that on 
this basis about 30 per cent of the entire Nation are more or less 
physically unfit. 

Most of these persons might have been saved for productive occupations, and for 
happy, wholesome lives, had their health and physical education been properly looked 
after while thev were children in school. 

5 



6 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

3. The third problem is that of a higher level of educational culture 
f6r the masses of the people, whether in town or in country, in order 
that the Nation may be able to hold its well-earned leadership in the 
new international relationships which have come to us. 

(a) This calls for a more thorough education for all people — young 
and old — based on national and local needs to challenge more fully 
than heretofore to highest national endeavor, by providing the large 
measure of leadership required in a great democracy. 

(h) This also calls for a more systematic technical and practical 
preparation through the schools for the ordinary occupations, 
whether in agriculture, in the other industries, in trade, or in home- 
making. 

Wholly aside from the native and alien adult illiterates, our public schools do not 
reach all the people of school age. On the basis of school population and enrollment 
17.4 per cent of the people of school age are not enrolled in school. 

School terms are so short in many States and compulsory attendance so badly 
enforced that the school life of the average person growing up in rural sections is only 4.5 
school years of 140 days each. In urban communities conditions are better, but far from 
satisfactory. Until these conditions are changed the great measure of intelligent 
leadership can not be forthcoming. 

4. The final problem deals with (1) the readjustment of the millions 
of young men who have taken part in the mighty affairs of war and 
through it have acquired a new type of education while in their 
country's service, who will find it difficult to adjust themselves to 
old conditions (notably in the country and small towns), and (2) 
the women in these sections who, relatively speaking, have stood 
still educationally during this period. 

HOW THE EMERGENCY MAY BE MET. 

The first §tep would be to take an inventory or ''survey" of the 
educational assets and liabilities in the State, and on the basis of 
this study formulate a program of educational legislation to extend 
over a period of years. 

Such a study would disclose that one sovereign State at least spends less than six 
dollars per year per child for school education; that the United States spends more 
for chewing gum than for school books; more for automobiles than for elementary and 
secondary education; and more for the wages of an average chauffeur than for the 
salary of an average teacher; that tens of thousands of our native-born children are 
permitted to be taught American history in a foreign language — the Declaration of 
Independence and Lincoln's Gettysburg speech in German and other tongues, and 
that we permit men and women to work in masses where they seldom or never hear 
a word of English spoken.^ 

Such a legislative program would include at least the phases of the 
subjects enumerated below: 

1. A businesslike State system of school organization and adminis- 
tration. 

1 See Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1918, p. 24. 



PURPOSE AND SCOPE. 7 

2. Establishment of an effective unit for greatest efficiency in local 
school administration. 

3. Readjustment of elementary and secondary education on the 
basis of (a) education for health; (b) education for citizenship; 
(c) education for life occupation; and (d) education for leisure. 




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4. Reorganization of rural education to provide rural communities 
with adequate elementary and secondary schools of agricultural type. 

5. A liberal system of school support to equalize educational op- 
portunities among all the people. 

6. Provision for suitable school grounds and buildings. 



8 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

7. Preparation of an adequate staff of teachers. 

8. Provision for a modern system of certificating teachers, based 
on a gradual increase in professional requirements. 

9. Adequate provision for living salaries for these teachers; loiiger 
tenures and retirement pensions. 

10. A liberal plan under which to provide textbooks in the schools. 

II.— GENERAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND 

ADMINISTRATION. 

STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION. 

The new and enlarged conception of education is adding new im- 
portance to the chief educational office in the several States — i. e., 
the State Department of Education. The office, as originally created 
in the older States, was chiefly clerical and statistical, much like the 
now passing ideas of the functions of the old county superintendency. 
Almost any person chosen from the general electorate could fill the 
position to the satisfaction of the public. 

But the demands of to-day require a new type of educational 
leadership, able to administer the manifold problems of modern 
school organization and administration, general education, school 
sanitation, industrial and vocational education, inter-relation of the 
public and higher schools, and educational legislation 

STATE BOARDS OF EDUCATION. 

Modern educational development is toward the State board of 
education as the administrative head of the State's educational 
system. Thirty-seven States leave the entire direction of the public 
school system to such boards. Several States have no State boards; 
in several others, boards have been organized since the passage of 
the Smith-Hughes Act to administer the funds provided under this 
act; and in others again, the State boards of education administer 
only the higher educational institutions, as the university, agricultural 
college and normal schools.^ 

COMPOSITION OF THE BOARD. 

Of the 37 States with State boards of education, 8 have ex-officio 
boards, which usually comprise the governor, the superintendent of 
public instruction and one or more other State officials such as secre- 
tary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, etc. Of the 28 
States with appointed State boards, 22 leave the appointment to the 
governor, subject, in most cases, to approval of the State senate; four 
States leave the selection of the boards to the State legislature; one 
State puts it to popular vote; and in one State it is left to the State 
superintendent of public instruction. 

' For details, see Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 5. 



GEXEBAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 9 

APPOINTMENT BY GOVERNOR HAS GREAT MERIT. 

1. It recognizes the executive head of the State as responsible to 
the people for the efficiency of every department of the ])ublic service, 
and tends to make the board responsible to the public. 

2. It centers responsibility where it can be definitely located. 
When the legislature elects it is difficult to locate responsibility. 

3. It provides against abuse and protects the board from undue 
political interference. 

ELECTION BY POPULAR VOTE MORE DEMOCRATIC. 

1. This method gives the people a direct voice in the selection of 
the men who direct the schools of the State. 

2. Election of the board members by popular vote must in any case 
I>e on a nonpartisan ticket, and based solely on probity and ability. 

SIZE OF BOARD, TERM OF OFFICE, AND MODE OF RETIRING MEMBERS. 

The present tendency is toward a State board composed of from 
five to seven members holding office for a period of five to seven 
years and retiring one each year, thus perpetuating the personnel of 
the board. The smallest boards are usually composed of ex-officio 
members and may be regarded as representing the passing type. 
In 14 of the 37 States the boards range from eight to 12 members. 
A board of this size is not too large for working efficiency and is 
sufficiently large to create continuity of service provided it is organ- 
ized to retire in small groups. In the case of all the ex-officio boards, 
the term of office is fixed by law and ranges from 2 to 4 years. In 
such boards the members usually retire in a body.^ 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF A WELL-ORGANIZED STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

The State board should be primarily a lay board, representing the 
larger educational policies of the public, delegating the professional 
side of education and the administration of their general policies to 
their appointive executive official, the State superintendent of 
public instruction, or commissioner of education, and the heads of 
the several higher educational institutions. The board should be 
composed of from five to seven members appointed by the governor 
by and with the consent of the senate, the term of office to be five 
or seven years, one member to retire each year or two in each biennial 
period, thus perpetuating the board's continuance and making it 
permanent. Vacancies should be filled b}^ the governor. The 
appointment should be for absolute worth and regardless of resi- 
dence, occupation, party affiliation, religion or sex. The members 

1 For a complete studj' of this subject, see Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 5. 
98618°— 19 2 



10 MANUAL OP EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

should serve without remuneration except for a reasonable per diem 
and actual traveling and other necessary expenses. 

The general powers and duties of the State board should be as 
follows : 

1. To have general oversight and control of the public-school 
system of the State.^ 

2. To select the State superintendent of public instruction to be 
executive official of the board. 

3. To require uniform records and reports, in form to be pre- 
scribed by the superintendent of public instruction, from all educa- 
tional institutions supported by the State, and from all other organi- 
zations doing educational work receiving State accreditment and 
recognition. 

4. To classify and standardize under the direction of the State 
superintendent, the public schools of the State. 

5. To adopt rules' and regulations for the sanitary inspection of 
schools and for the physical examination of school children; and, in 
conjunction with other State authorities, to see that the rules relat- 
ing to school health, compulsory education, and child conservation 
are enforced. 

6. To have general control of all such educational institutions as 
the schools for the deaf and the blind and industrial schools for boy^ 
and girls. 

7. To act as a board of control for the State library and historical 
collections. 

8. To transmit to the governor and the State legislature a peri- 
odic report covering all the activities of the State's higher educa- 
tional institutions and the State department of public instruction in 
its relation to all public elementary and secondary schools and the 
above-mentioned higher educational institutions of the State. 

STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. 

The average State department of education has developed more 
or less independently, paralleling the several State boards of educa- 
tion with functions centered in the administration of the elementary 
and secondary schools of the State. The executive head of this 
board — the State superintendent of public instruction — was formerty 
a political official in nearly all the States. Greater efficiency in 
school administration now demands a change. The superintendent 
is beginning to be recognized as the chief educational official in the 

1 In some of the States the proposed State boards of education would be organized to have control of 
all the schools, including the higher institutions. This would particularly be true of States seeing fit to 
enlarge the powers of the board now in control of higher education to include also the general oversight 
of the elementary and secondary schools. 



GENERAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 11 

State, whose task it is to organize and direct the educational forces 
within the State. The office requires the largest ability. It is 
indeed hard to conceive of a more important office or a more difficult 
position to fill well. At all times it calls for a person of great tact, 
good initiative, and much executive ability. 

THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT: HOW CHOSEN. 

In 31 States the superintendents are elected by popular vote; 
in 10 States they are appointed by the governor and in seven they 
are appointed by the State board of education. 

OBJECTIONS TO SELECTING THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT BY POPULAR VOTE. 

1. This method of selection limits the field from which to choose as 
the superintendent must be a citizen of the given State. In States 
where the superintendent is appointed by the State board of educa- 
tion or by the governor, this official may be selected from the country 
at large. Such freedom of selection is clearly in the interest of better 
service. 

2. Where the State superintendent is selected by popular "vote the 
salary is fixed by law. The salary can not be adjusted to fit the 
person desired ; but a person must be found to fit the salary. 

3. Where the State superintendent is elected by popular vote the 
term of office is short, two to four years, and reelection is uncertain. 
This lack of continuity in the service is a serious handicap to the 
superintendent, however capable. 

4. This method of appointment makes the office political and 
subjects it to all the fluctuations of party and factional politics. 

THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT AS EXECUTIVE OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

The modern trend is toward a capable State board of education 
organized on a nonpartisan basis. The best interests of the service 
would seem to require: (1) That this board be given the power to 
appoint the State supermtendent ; (2) that it be free to select him 
from the country at large; (3) that it have authority to pay whatever 
salary is necessary to get the best man for the position; (4) that it 
make the appointee a member of the board and its chief executive 
officer; and (5) that it keep him in the service as long as he proves 
effective and supply him with an ample staff of assistants to do his 
work. 

With the State board of education organized on this basis the 
position of State superintendent stands first m responsibility and in 
opportunity to render executive service. As executive official he 
administers the various divisions of the State department of educa- 
tion and also represents the State board as its professional repre- 



12 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



scntative in all the higher educational institutions of the State. 
This organization is illustrated in the following graphic illustration 
of the proposed reorganization of a State board of education : 

PPOPOSED PLAN - rOP OPGANIZATION OF 
STATE DEPAQTMENT OF EDUCATION 



COVEQNOQ 
or THE STATE 



STATE BOADD 

or REGENTS 

or EDUCATION 



STATE UN/\/CQSlTV 
aCRICULTUPAL COLLCCC 

AND 
SCHOOL or MINCS 



STATE SUPEQINTf::NDENT 
or PUBLIC INSTPUCTJON 



STATE 

NOPMAL 

SCHOOLS 



DM5 IONS or THE 3TATE DEPAQTMENT 
or PUBLIC IN3TPUCTION 



AND 
B<JSIN£SS 



UCGAL 
SCHOOL 

UANDS 

AND 
SUOPOOT 



EDITORIAL 

AND 
jTATISTICM. 



?£aTinoaT/6rj 

MD TCACHCRS 
CMPLOrMC/VT 



tlXMCNTARY 
EDUCATION 



SCCONDAQY 

axjCATioN 



HYGIENE. 

AND 
SANITATIOH 



ADCATIONAL 
AND 

rcocoAL 

AID 



HISTORICAL 

AND 
UBOAPy 



SPCCIAL 
CDUCATION 




This is a graphic representation of a proposed plan for the organi^iation of .a State department of edu- 
cation contained in the report of the State-wide educational survey recently completed by the Bureau 
of Education for the Legislature of South Dakota. 

The reorganize:d State department of education should be com- 
prehensively planned on lines of approved business j^rinciples. The 
most important busmess in the average State is education. If the 
State is to get full returns on its educational investment the methods, 
means and ways outlined must be of the most approved known to 
experts in school administration. There should be ample provision 
made for as many subdivisions of the department as may be necessary 
to administer the office to the best interest of the public. 

This important office should be based 'on the following powers 
and duties: 

1. The State superintendent should be the executive official of 
the State board of education and executive head of the State depart- 
ment of education and should enforce all the rules and regulations 
made in conformity to law by the State board for the public elemen- 
tary and secondary schools. 

2. He should have supervision of all the different divisions of the 
State department of education and should be held responsible by the 
State board for the proper administration of the duties of each such 
division. 



GENERAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 18 

3. He should, in cooperation \^TLtli the heads of the State's insti- 
tutions for training teachers, and in conformity with law, prescribe 
courses of study for these training schools, standards for the certifi- 
cation of teachers, and methods for the validation of teaching 
credentials from other States. 

4. He should, as the professional representatiye of the State board 
of education, cooperate with the presidents and faculties of the higher 
educational institutions of the State. 

5. He should have such other powers as under law belong to the 
office of State superintendent of education. 

UNITS OF ORGANIZATION FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE 

SCHOOLS. 

Nearly every phase of school organization is bound up in some 
way mth the geographical unit utilized as the basis of school main- 
tenance, supervision, and general admmistration. If the unit of 
organization is very small it becomes impracticable for school taxa- 
tion and supervision; if too large, its supervision is difficult and 
generally ineffective. The growth of school education in entire 
sections of the country has been retarded because of bad school 
organization; while other sections, less fortimately situated in other 
ways, have been able to make exceptional progress in school reor- 
ganization because favored by modern laws on this subject. 

Three distinct miits of organization are in use at the present time 
in the United States — the district, the township, and the county. In 
addition, there are several instances of mixed systems in which the 
management rests both on the district and on the township, or 
county. 

Experience haSj however, taught that for the greatest administra- 
tive efficiency in education, the unit of administration should conform 
geograj^hically to the unit used for civil administration. 

BRIEF STATEMENT OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 

The small local district was the original pioneer organization, 
particularly in the North and West, and generally preceded school 
legislation. It began as a necessity on the edge of the New England 
wilderness long ago and was later continued for much the same 
reasons in the westward march into the interior of the continent. 
The town (township) system for school purposes was origmated in 
New England and prevailed from the very beginning in all organized 
towns. County organization originated in the South. Here planta- 
tion life prevailed, agricultural areas were large, with a widely 
scattered population and little village life. This caUed for a larger 
unit of organization for* civil pm-poses wliich was supplied by the 



14 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



old English county. The latter also began the unit for school pur- 
poses. The following map shows graphically the different units of 
school organization in use throughout the country. 



THE DISTRICT UNIT. 



The term district unit is used to mean a small geographical area 
served by a single school and occasionally two or more schools. 




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under one board of education. This board has general charge of 
the local school, including care of the school premises, choice of 
teachers, the right to ^x the teachers' salaries, and establishment of 
the policy which' shall govern the work of the schools. The board 



GENERAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 15 

is amenable to the annual school meeting which elects its members, 
votes the taxation — except States without local taxation — deter- 
mines the length of school year, etc. 

TTie small district, which has he en considered more democratic than 
the other forms, is heginning to decline in every section of the country 
for the ohvious reason that it was organized as a pioneer system at a 
time when it was the only feasible plan. But with the passing of pioneer 
conditions and the development of modern industrial life, a larger and 
more centrally controlled system of organization seems desirable. 

THE TOWN OR TOWNSHIP UNIT. 

People have begun to realize that the small district has outlived its 
period of real usefulness and ought to be- supplanted by a more 
effective unit of organization. In New England the more compact 
township organization has already driven out these local districts. 
The same is true in Indiana and other States in the Middle West. 
There is a recent movement on to go one step farther and reorganize 
both district and township States on the larger and more effective 
county unit of organization. So far as New England is concerned, 
the town system is unquestionably the best unit of organization for 
management of the schools in that section of the country because of the 
fact that the town is also used as the unit in civil administration. Else- 
where in the country a still larger unit would seem advisable. 

THE COUNTY UNIT. 

Nineteen States are organized wholly or in part on the county unit 
basis for school administration. Of these Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, 
Tennessee, and Utah may be classed ks of the pure county type; that 
is, in which practically the entire management of the schools rests 
with the county board of education. Arizona, California, Delaware, 
South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington belong to the mixed 
or semicounty type in which the authority is divided between the 
count}^ board and either township or local district boards. Of the 
above States, Kentucky, Tennessee, Utah, and New Mexico have 
recently changed from the district unit of organization to the county 
unit, and Ohio and Texas from the district unit to the semicounty 
organization. The most recent State to reorganize on the new plan 
is New Mexico. Of this reorganization. State Superintendent 
Johnathan H. Wagner says, in part: 

We now have the county board of education which has charge of all the schools in 
the county. This is proving a wise provision, as it centralizes the administration of 
the county schools. It has already stopped all financial leaks and better qualified 
teachers are being employed. It is a great deal more economical than the old system, 
as all counties are requii-ed to work under the budget system. 



16 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

It is generally conceded that the satisfactory progress in consoli- 
dating schools, in the establishment of rural high schools, and the 
introduction of industrial work, now going on in certain States, 
could never have been accomplished to such a degree as it has been, 
were it not for county organization. 

AN EFFECTIVE COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 

The county unit, to be thoroughly effective, must make provision 
for a well centralized husmess adrmnistration toithout depriving the 
people of their local initiative in school '/natters. The county board and 
the county superintendent would adm^inister the general school 
affairs and equalize educational advantages to all the people of the 
county while each school, contrnunity would he rej)resented hy one suh- 
director appointed hy the county hoard or, if desired, elected at the annual 
school meeting; while the school funds of the county would be ex- 
pended by the county board of education for the general maintenance 
of all the schools. But the local school comrrvunity should invariably 
retain the right to levy taxes and issue hands for extraordinary school 
pU7'poses, such as acquiring additional land sites, erecting new buildings, 
etc. This is a guaranty of local autonomy; for where the right of 
taxation is vested, there is the real power. 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF A WELL-ORGANIZED COUNTY SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 

This paragraph is intended for those States only which are organ- 
ized on the county unit for general school supervision and which are 
making use of the county as the administrative unit in ordinary civic 
matters. It is the conviction of progressive educators that the 
average State can best attain its highest efficiency and more effectively 
influence school education by reorganizing its schools on a practical 
county unit basis. This can be done effectively and economically 
wnthout in any way interfering with real democracy in education. 
This type of organization contemplates the establishment of (1) 
a county board of education to have the management of the educa- 
tional affairs in each county; and (2) the election by the county 
board of education of a professional county superintendent to be 
the chief educational ofRoial of the county and the executive ofhcer 
of the board. 

THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

This board, in organization and function, should be a prototype of 
the State board of education explained above. It should be com- 
posed of five or seven citizens selected from the county at large, 
known for their ability and probity, and elected for a five or seven 
year term fiom the county at large or from electoral districts on a 
nonpartisan ticket. One term should expire each year. Vacancies 
on the board should be filled by the count}'^ board of commissioners 



GENEKAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL OEGANIZATION. 



17 



or equivalent administrative organization for the unexpired term. 
The board should receive all necessary traveling expenses and a 
reasonable per diem to compensate them for their time. The board 
should be strictly legislative, leaving the executive duties to the 
county superintendent. 

PROPOSED PL^/V rOR ORGAN/^^T/ON 
or COUNTY SYSTEM OP EDUCATION 



'STATE. DC PAR TMCN T 
or EDUCATION 



COUNTY BOARD 
or EDUCATION 



BOARD 
or HEALTH 



LOCAL 
SOB-OI/iECTOR^ 



COUNTY 'SUPEIRfNTCNDCNT OT^CHOOLS 



HOMC^ 





XTTENOANCE 

orncER 



OCPUTY ^URCRINTCNOCNT 



ySueoCCT 
SUPERVISORS 



TCACHETR^ 



PUPIL'S 




RARELNT^ 



This is a graphic representation of a county plan of organization contained in the report of the State- 
wide educational survey recently completed by the United States Bureau of Education for the Legis- 
lature of South Dakota. 

The chiel powers and duties of the county board of education may 
be summarized as follows: 

1. To enforce the laws relative to education and the rules and 
regulations of the State board of education within their respective 
counties. 

2. To elect the county superintendent and all neccssaiy super- 
visors and office assistants; also to elect one director for each school 

98618°— 19 3 



18 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

community within their jurisdiction, who shall be the custodian of 
local school property and represent local needs before the county 
boards. 

3. To have direct charge of all county schools outside of incorpor- 
ated city districts, including the closing of unnecessary schools, 
building new schools, consoHdating schools, and conveying children 
to school, and organizaing rural high schools. 

4. To elect all teachers needed in the county schools, on nomination 
of the county superintendent. 

5. To levy a uniform school tax on all the taxable property of the 
county under legal limitations; and to expend the funds thus pro- 
cured to equalize educational advantages among all the school 
children of the county. 

6. To exercise all other powers and duties not enumerated above, 
but which are prescribed by law. 

THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 

The rapid changes in American life have thrust new responsibili- 
ties on the superintendent as well as on his teachers. He still retains 
the clerical and financial duties given the office at its founding. The 
instructional work at the schools has grown in importance and 
required much of his time. The selection of textbooks and school 
equipment, however, is left more and more to the superintendent. The 
holding of institutes for teachers and the annual meetings of school 
officers are recently added responsibilities unknown in the day of the 
early superintendency. To perform these duties satisfactorily, the 
superintendent must be an expert in the instructional and adminis- 
trative phases of teaching. The office demands first of all a good 
organizer; it requires a person of exceptional business ability; he 
must be a person of unlimited energy and withal a man who has the 
courage of his convictions. 

Thirty-nine States have county superintendents. The New England States are 
organized in charge of town (township) or town-district superintendents, while New 
York, Virginia, and Nevada have district superintendents. The term of office in 
14 States is four years; in 1, three years; and in 23, two years. In 29 of these States 
the county superintendent is elected by the people usually in the same manner as 
other county officers. In the rest of the States they are appointed by a county board 
of education or its equivalent, and in the case of Delaware, by the governor; and in 
New Jersey, by the State cpmmissioner of education. 

The most important problem is to remove the office entirely from party politics and 
place the superintendency on a professional basis with a permanent tenure and sufficient 
salary to attract the best persons in the profession to this exceptionally important office. 

In electing the county superintendent, the count}^ board of edu- 
cation should not be restricted to the county or even the State. The 
best candidate from an3rwhere in the country should be selected. 

The board should not be restricted by a candidate's religion, 
party affiliations, or sex. The term of office should be long, though 



SCHOOL POPULATIONS, ENROLLMENT, AND ATTENDANCE. 19 

at first probationary. The salary should be not less than $2,500 
per annum in all well-established counties. 

The chief powers and duties of the county superintendent should 
be— 

1. To act as executive oflacer of the county board of education and 
to administer, under its direction, the educational policies deter- 
mined upon by the board. 

2. To act as chief educational officer of the county, in which 
capacity he should represent the county board of education. 

3. To see that compulsory-attendance laws are enforced and child- 
welfare laws obeyed. 

4. To nominate for appointment by the county board of education 
all deputy superintendents or professional supervisors required by 
law. 

5. To supervise the class-room practice of all county schools, 
either in person or through his assistants. 

6. To carry out all policies of the county board and have charge, 
under direction of the board, of all schools, including continuation- 
school activities, night schools, part-time schools, short courses, and 
all other types of education undertaken for the promotion of voca- 
tional education and other education within the county. 

7. To have charge of health education in the county, including 
health inspection made in conjimction with the county medical 
authorities, and to direct the work of the school nurse or nurses, if 
such be appointed. 

8. To keep full records of all educational activities within the 
coimty and to make reports from time to time to the county board 
of* education and to the State superintendent of education. 

9. To perform such other duties as by law belong to the office. 

ni.— SCHOOL POPULATION, ENROLLMENT, AND ATTEND- 

ANCE. 

SCHOOL CENSUS. 

By school population is meant the ages between which the public 
schools are legally open to the education of children. A glance at 
the accompanying table discloses considerable variance in the legal 
ages in several States. The widest range of ages is from 4 to 20 
years (Wisconsin and Oregon), and 5 to 21 years in 7 States (Maine, 
Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, Washington, and Mississippi). The 
narrowest range is from 5 to 16 years (New Hampshire and Massa- 
chusetts). In 17 of the 43 States where a census enumeration is 
made, the range of ages is from 6 to 21 years. No school census is 
taken in New Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina, and California. A 
grouping of the range of ages, with the number of States in each 
group, is given on the next page. 



20 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

Number 
of 

Age States. 

7 to 20 1 

7 to 21 1 

7 to 17 1 

4 to 16 - 1 

6 to 16 2 

5 to 20 - : 2 

4 to 20 .- 2 

6 to 20 2 

5 to 18 - - 2 

5 to 16 2 

6 to 18 5 

5 to 21 7 

6 to 21 : 16 

Total 44 

PROPOSED CHANGES. 

A school census should be taken annually in every State. The 
best time to make this enumeration is at the beginning of the school 
year. It should be made by the county board of enumeration or 
similar board. From 5 to 18 years is the best range of ages to in- 
clude in the school census, because this is the natural school age of 
the normal child. 

Because there is no uniformity in range of ages and no enumeration in four States, 
the only available statistics of school population is an estimate calculated from reports 
made to the United States Census Bureau. Th^ ages included in the census enumera- 
tion bear little relation to the ages of children actually in school. The normal child 
begins school at 5 or 6 years of age and completes the high school at 17 or 18. Very few 
children are in the elementary or secondary schools above the age of 18. 

COMPULSORY AGES. 

Every State has an age limit for compulsory attendance. The 
lowest range of ages is from 8 to 12 years (Virginia and North Caro- 
lina). The highest is from 8 to 18 years (Idaho). In 10 States the 
range is between 8 and 16 and in 10 States between 7 and 14. The 
range of ages and the number of States in each group follow: 

X umber 
of 

Ages. States. 

7 to 12 „ 1 

8 to 18 1 

9 to 15 1 

8 to 12 2 

7 to 16 4 

8 to 15 5 

7 to 15 5 

8 to 14 9 

8 to 16 10 

7 to 14 10 

Total 48 



SCHOOL POPULATION, ENEOLLMENT, AND ATTENDANCE. 21 

FEASIBLE CHANGES. 

The compulsory period varies from 12 weeks to a full school year. 
The age limit for compulsory education should provide at least for tJie 
completion of the elementary school course. This would mean an 
actual attendance of 7 or 8 years. To complete this course would 
mean attendance for the full time that school is in session 

To complete an elementary school course is none too much edu- 
cation for citizens of a democracy. It was James Madison who 
said, ''A popular government without public education is but the 
prelude of a farce or a tragedy, or both.'' 




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22 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



SCHOOL ENROLLMENT AND LENGTH OF TERM. 

The accompanying table and graph show the average number of 
days that pubhc schools were kept open, the average number of 
days attended by each pupil enrolled, and the average per cent of 



TE.R^\ AND ATTENDANCE.. 1916. 




The light line indicates the total number of days the schools were in operation. The heavy line 
Indicates the average attendance. 



SCHOOL POPULATION, ENROLLMENT, AND ATTENDANCE. 



23 



attendance in each State for the school year 1915-16. The average 
length of school year varied from 194.3 days in Rhode Island to 
108.5 days in South Carolma. A comparison of average days of 
attendance for all pupils enrolled j with tlie average length of term, indi- 
cates that iJie entire school year was not utilized. The per cent varied 
from 89.9 in Illinois to 5Ji..8 in Delaware. 

This difference between length of term and days attended may be 
seen at a glance from the several surveys conducted by the Bureau 
of Education: 

Arizona (report for 1915-16) : 

Throughout the State there is a difference of from two and one-half to four months 
between the number of days school is taught and the actual number of days attended 
by the average pupil enrolled. 

Colorado (figures for 1915-16): 

The average for rural schools as given in the county superintendents' report is 148 
days, or about 7 months. For the State as a whole the average number of days 
attended by the children in rural schools is 106, to practically 5 school months. 

Wyoming (figures for 1914-15) : 

A similar irregularity and consequent injustice is shown in the average number of 
days attended. Even in a county in which the minimum length of term is 6 
months, or 120 days, the average number of days actually attended by each child 
enrolled is but 89. Schools in this county are evidently not holding pupils in school 
during the full term, even when the term is a short one, and consequently it is evi- 
dent that the attendance law is not being enforced. 

Table 1. — Average number of days public schools were kept open, average number of 
days of attendance by each pupil enrolled, and average per cent of attendance in each 
State in 1915-16.^ 



Location. 


Days schools 
were open. 


Days attended. 


/ 


Rank. 


Number. 


Average. 


Per cent. 


Rank. 


Alabama 


38 
28 
39 

8 
21 

3 
18 
40 
37 
30 
23 
29 
19 
24 
34 
39 
17 

6 

5 
15 
20 
43 
27 

7 

25 
22 
16 

4 


135.0 
160.0 
134.9 
176.0 
167.0 
183.2 
170.7 
130.1 
136.7 
1154.9 
164.0 
155.0 
170.0 
163.7 
144.0 
134.9 
171.2 
178.0 
181.7 

1 172.0 
167.7 

2 123.0 
161.8 
176.7 
163.5 
166.1 
171.5 

1183.0 


84.8 

107.3 

91.7 

134.0 

122.0 

142.5 

93.5 

94.7 

98.9 

105.2 

147.3 

127.4 

128.8 

126.5 

95.0 

99.4 

133.8 

124.0 

153.0 

139.9 

127.3 

2 75.4 

118.5 

129.4 

3 120.8 

124.9 

138.5 

142.9 


62.9 
67.1 

168.0 
76.2 
73.1 
77.8 
54.8 
72.8 
69.0 

172.0 
89.8 
82.2 
75.8 
77.3 
65.9 
73.7 
78.2 
69.7 
84.2 
81.3 
75.9 

261.3 
73.2 
73.2 
73.9 
75.2 
80.8 
78.1 


43 


Arizona 


39 


Arkansas 


38 


California 


20 


Colorado ^ 


27 


Cnnnftntinnt 


17 


Delaware 


45 


Florida 


28 


Georgia . 


36 


Idaho .... 


29 


Illinois 


1 


Indiana 


5 


Iowa 


22 


Kansas 


18 


Kentucky 


41 


Louisiana 


25 


Maine 


14 


Maryland 


34 


Massachusetts 


4 


Michigan 


6 


Minnftsnta , ... 


21 


Mississippi 


44 


Missouri .' 


26 


Montana 


26 


Nebraska 


24 


Nevada 


23 


New Hampshire 


10 


New Jersey 


15 



* From statistics, U. S, Bureau of Education, i Statistics, 1914-15. « Statistics, 1913-14. 3 Estimated. 



24 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



Table 1. — Average number of days public schools were kept open, average number of 
days of attendance by each pupil enrolled, and average per cent of attendance in earn 
State in 1915-16 — Continued. 



Location. 


Days schools 
were open. 


Days attended. 




Rank. 


Number. 


Average. 


Per cent. 


Rank. 


New Mexico 


35 
2 
41 
14 
9 
32 
33 
13 
1 
44 
19 
42 
38 
26 
10 
36 
11 
38 
12 
31 


142.5 
190.2 
124.2 
1 172.6 
175.3 
152.0 
151.0 
172.7 
194.3 
108.5 
170.0 
123.8 
135.0 
163.0 
175.0 
141.0 
174.6 
135.0 
173.7 
153.0 


95.0 
154.3 

85.4 
119.5 
148.9 

95.9 
135.4 
139.1 
154.8 

72.9 
118.9 

87.3 

91.8 
132.5 
140.2 

98.4 
136.2 

96.3 
140.9 
117.0 


66.7 
81.1 
68.7 
69.2 
84.9 
63.1 
89.7 
80.6 
79.7 
67.1 
70.0 
70.5 
68.0 
81.2 
80.1 
69.8 
78.0 
71.3 
81.0 
76.5 


40 


New Y ork 


8 


North Carolina 


37 


North Dakota 


35 


Ohio 


3 


Oklahoma 


42 


Oregon 


2 


Pennsylvania 


11 


Rhode Island 


13 


South Carolina 


39 


South Dakota 


32 


Tennessee 


31 


Texas 


38 


Utah 


7 


Vermont 


12 


Virginia 


33 


Washington 


16 


West Virginia 


30 


Wisconsin 


9 


Wyoming 


19 






United States (continental) 




160.3 


120.9 


75.5 









1 statistics, 1914-15. 



PROPOSED CHANGES. 



The schools should be or^^-anized on the all-vear basis. The term 
and teaching contract should begin January 1 of each year. The 
•school work should be planned in such a way that, while the teacher 
is employed for the whole year, actual class work should be regulated 
by the labor needs in the community. 

The all-year school prevents the loss of school* efficiency because of a long eummer 
vacation; it minimizes the problem of idleness and vagrancy among city children; 
it enables children to finish school at an earlier age; and provides a plan whereby, 
by means of home projects, the field and garden may become vital laboratories for 
agricultural instruction. 

CHILDREN IN AND OUT OF SCHOOL. 

The public school is installed and maintained by the State. In 
measuring its efficiency, the following questions are vital: Fii'st, 
How many cMldren are to he educated? Second, How many are in tlie 
public schools ? Third, How many are in private schools ? Fourth, 
How TYiany are not attending either public or priimte schools ? 

The accompanying table and graph give the census, the number and 
per cent of children in public schools, private schools, and not in any 
school. The term census, as given in the table, includes children 
between the ages of 5 and 18 years — the age adopted by the United 
States Bureau of Education in compiling its statistics. 



SCHOOL POPULATION, ENEOLLMENT, AND ATTENDANCE. 



25 



Table 2.— Children in and out of school. 
(U. S. Bureau of Education,. statistics, 1915-16.) 



Location. 



Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Lidiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts. . . 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi....... 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire. 

New Jersey 

New Mexico 

New York 

North Carolina. . 
North Dakota... 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina.. 
South Dakota. . . 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia , 

Washington 

West Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 



United States . 



Rank, 



20 



2 
28 
41 
15 
19 
18 

1 
17 
26 
45 

3 

7 
12 

6 
21 
31 
10 



11 
35 

9 
23 
44 
27 
13 
40 
22 
32 
25 
30 
34 
33 
42 

4 
39 

8 
16 
38 
37 
29 
36 

5 



Census. 



740 

62 

546 

1671 
22.5 

128.5 

52 

256 

912 

113 

1,514 
703 
583 
483 
699 
572 
176 
357 
830 
751 
617 
635 
890 
198 
345 
17 
98 
707 
118 

2,336 
772 
208 

1,217 
675 
183 

2,123 
142 
542 
193 
687 

1,388 
126 
84 
665 
336 
401 
686 
3 



,603 
,608 
,099 
,274 
,122 
,483 
,769 
,522 
,227 
,104 
,070 
,641 
,278 
,731 
,376 
,883 
,823 
,464 
,115 
,494 
,316 
,270 
,190 
,883 
,051 
,515 
,192 
,229 
,941 
165 
,240 
,011 
,544 
,598 
,445 
,686 
,152 
,583 
,417 
,087 
,226 
,058 
,669 
,716 
,148 
,119 
,346 
,061 



26,846,976 



Number 
in public 
schools. 



514 
51 

447 
539 
184 
234 

45 
198 
667 

95 
1,084 
564 
525 
402 
537 
320 
149 
243 
604 
620 
481 
492 
721 
102 
292 

13 

67 
540 

77 
1,625 
640 
151 
905 
515 
142 
1,504 

89 
415 
134 
610 
1,017 
108 

65 
486 
245 
313 
458 

32 



601 
077 
726 
688 
471 
609 
327 
365 
635 
772 
640 
252 
579 
860 
008 
400 
149 
077 
023 
861 
583 
756 
752 
768 
725 
358 
461 
287 
062 
777 
246 
647 
071 
493 
365 
794 
879 
766 
136 
235 
083 
359 
380 
134 
419 
873 
102 
630 



20,351,687 



Per cent 
in public 
schools. 



69.1 
81.7 
82.0 



82.0 
82.1 
85.9 
77.2 
73.2 
84.7 
71.8 
80.2 
90.0 
83.3 
76.8 
55.7 
84.3 
68.0 
72.8 
82.8 
78.0 
77.6 
81.0 



84.8 
76.3 
68.7 
76.4 
64.8 
69.5 
84.0 
73.0 
74.3 
76.4 
77.6 
70.8 
63.2 
76.6 
69.5 
88.8 
73.0 
86.0 
77.3 
73.1 
73.0 
78.2 
66.8 
8S.0 



75.8 



Number 

in private 

schools 



17,187 

3,367 

6,133 
33,000 

7,000 
52, 293 

5,000 

8,500 
10,000 

2,500 
213, 760 
40, 000 
42, 000 
16, 051 
33,352 
38, 159 
17, 207 
30, 000 
122, 000 
72, 982 
38, 000 

7,500 
65, 000 

7,000 

12, 000 

309 

21,689 

48, 000 

5,589 

278, 000 

25, 000 

3,500 

120, 000 

14,^15 

7,794 

180, 000 

21,646 

10,000 

4,500 
27, 000 
28,000 

7,000 

8,000 
17,568 
10, 261 

4,839 
70, 000 

1,600 



1,820,210 



Per cent 

in private 

schools. 



2.5 
5.4 
1.1 



3.1 



9.5 
3.3 
1.1 
2.2 
14.0 
5.7 
7.2 
3.3 
4.8 
6.7 
9.8 
23.6 
14.7 
9.5 
6.2 
1.1 
7.4 



3.5 

1.7 

22.0 
6.8 
4.7 

11.8 
3.2 
1.6 
9.8 
2.2 
4.2 
8.5 

15.2 
1.9 
2.2 
4.0 
2.0 
5.4 
9.4 
2.6 
3.0 
1.3 

10.2 
4.4 



Number 
not in 
school. 



208,815 
,164 



92 



33 

1 

2 

49 

234 
14 

215 
99 
15 
64 

129 

214 
10 
84 

104 
57 
97 

135 

103 



40 
3 
9 

118 
36 

432 
87 
52 

192 

145 
33 

438 
30 

116 
54 
49 

343 
10 
11 

172 
80 
82 

158 
2 



240 



651 
419 
442 
657 
592 
832 
730 
389 
699 
820 
016 
412 
467 
387 
092 
651 
733 
014 
438 



326 
848 
042 
942 
290 
388 
994 
864 
474 
190 
286 
892 
627 
817 
771 
752 
143 
699 
289 
014 
468 
407 
244 
831 



6.8 4,675,079 



Per cent 
not in 
school. 



28.4 
12.9 
16.9 



14.9 



4.6 
19.5 
25.7 
13.1 
14.2 
14.1 

2.8 
13.4 
18.4 
37.6 

5.9 

8.4 
12.5 

7.7 
15.8 
21.3 
11.6 



11.7 
22.0 

9.3 
16.8 
30.5 
18.7 
12.8 
25.4 
15.9 
21.4 
18.2 
20.7 
21.6 
21.5 
28.3 

7.2 
25.0 

8.6 
13.3 
24.3 
24.0 
20.5 
23.0 

7.6 



17.4 



1 Enrollment in excess of census. 

The following is quoted from Bureau of Education surve^^s relative 
to the compulsory attendance laws and the enforcement of the same: 

Arizona, statistics for 1915-16: 

The compulsory age in Arizona is 6 to 18 years, unless the child has completed the 
elementary school before that age, when he may leave at 14. Eleven county superin- 
tendents report that it is well enforced; 3 reported that it is partially enforced. A 
comparison of the number of days attended to the days taught does not verify the 
statement of the 11. The large enrollment compared to average daily attendance 
also indicates laxity in the enforcement of the true intent of the law. 

98618°— 19 4 



26 



MANUAL OP EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



Colorado, statistics for 1914-15: 

CWILDREN IN /^ND OUT OF SCUOOL 



I IOWA 

Z DeLAWA»£ 

3 MAINE 

H TENNESSEE. 

5 WYOMING 

bAMCHIGAN 

7 MARYLAND 

e UTAH 

9 NEW HAMPSHIRE 

IOMt550URI 

I I NEBf=UV5KA 

1£ MA55ACMU5E.TT3 
13 NORTH CAROUNA 
IH ARIZONA 
I5IDAMO 

16 VEPJAONT 

17 KANSAS 
la INDIANA 
laiLLINOIS 
20 COLORADO 
Z I MINNESOTA 
^iOMIO 

23NEW JERSEY 
Zt ARKANSAS 
as OREGON 

^6 KENTUCKY 
i7 NEW YORK 
ZS FLORIDA 
leaWEST VIRGINIA 

30 PENNSY LVANI A 

31 MISSISSIPPI 

32 OKLAHOMA 

53 SOUTH CAROLINA 
3*f RHODE. ISLAND 

35 NEVADA 

36 WISCONSIN 

37 WA5H/NQTON 

38 VIRGINIA 

39 TE.X.A5 

HO NORTH DAKOTA 
y< GEORGIA 
42 SOUTH DAKOTA 
1*3 ALABAMA 
4HNEW /MEXICO 
V5 LOUISIANA 

UNITED STATE 5 



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PUBUC SCHOOLS C 



D PRIVATE SCHOOLS l^>^//V^ NOT IN SCHOOL. 



.PER CENT OF 5CUOOL_ POPULATION ENROLLED IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND NOT IN ANY SCHOOL IN 1915-16. 

♦Connecticut} report enroulment in exce_55 of census 
montana j 

The portion of the chart in black indicates the per cent of school population not in school attendance. 
For the United States as a whole, 75.8 per cent of all children of school age are in public schools, 6.8 per 
cent are in private schools, and 17.4 per cent are in no school whatever. 

Table 31 shows census and enrollment data for children between 8 and 14 years, 
as given in the county superintendents' reports to the State superintendent for the 
year 1914-15. In 28 of these counties the number enrolled exceeds the total census 



SCHOOL POPULATION, ENROLLMENT, AND ATTENDANCE. 27 

enumeration from 1 per cent to 25 per cent. In one county the number enrolled is 
equal to the census. . . . The given data are useless for this purpose in 29 counties 
of the State because of the condition stated. In the other 33 counties 4,845 children, 
or 12 per cent of the censiis enumeration between 8 and 14, are reported nx)t enrolled in 
school. 

The school census (including children between the ages of 5 and 18) 
should not be used as a basis for apportionment of school money, but 
to ascertain the number of children to be educated. 




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All private schools should be open to inspection by school author- 
ities. 

Mental and physical incapacity are the only legitimate reasons why 
a child should not be in the public schools. 



28 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

Truant officers, not school administrators, should be provided for 
the enforcement of the compulsory school law. 

If private schools are utilized, the qualifications of teachers, the school equipment, 
the quality of instruction, and the course of study should be measured by the same 
standards by which the public schools are measured. 

As education is the business of the State, it is also the right and duty of the State to 
see to it that children are kept in school in spite of poverty or need for labor. It is 
further the riglit of the State to see to it that provision is made for the enforcement of 
its educational laws. 

IV.— RURAL SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 

The national industrial transition going on at the present time is 
forcing upon country communities, whether they will or not, a reor- 
ganization of the present educational system. The Nation has long 
since passed from pioneering in agricultural life and must hereafter 
enter upon an era of scientific international commercial farming. 
This requires for the country community a type of school education 
which will do more than give farm people the tools of an education; 
they must be taught to become real agriculturists. The type of 
school that'can best provide this education is the modern consolidated 
farm community school, furnishing both elementary and secondary 
education; or, where this is not practicable, a modern one-teacher 
school. 

There are, according to estimates made by the United States 
Bureau of Education, approximately 210,000 one-teacher rural schools 
in the United States, and approximately 10,500 consolidated schools. 

By a consolidated schoolis meant a union of two or more schools 
of the same district, or in outlying districts, to form a well-organized 
graded school. Consolidation of rural schools has made the greatest 
headway in States where the county or township is the xmit. Massa- 
chusetts, Indiana, Ohio, Utah, Louisiana, and North Dakota are 
examples of such States. In States organized on the district basis 
consolidation has made slow progress, except States where subsidy 
has been offered, as in Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota,- and Washington. 
There are three types of consolidated schools prevalent thi'oughout 
the United States, as follows: (a) Associated schools; (b) partial con- 
solidation; (c) complete consolidation. 

An associated school organization includes a rural trading center or central village 
and the surrounding country districts that use this center as a trading and social center. 
The outlying schools Tetain their independent organizations for local purposes, but are 
merged into the large district for matters of common educational interest. The school 
officers of the local districts are retained as boards for the management of their own 
local schools. In addition, representatives from each local district form an associated 
board to manage affairs of common interest, such as disbursing associated district 
funds and employing special instructors. This plan provides an avenue for the 
extension of supervised industrial courses into the one-teacher rural schools. In such 
a school organization pupils completing the eight grades in the country generally 



RUEAL SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 29 

continue their high school course in the village center. Such a school further pro- 
vides ample opportunity for community activities associated with the school. The 
Putnam Act in Minnesota makes provision for this type of school. 

By partial consolidation is meant a plan whereby the outlying rural schools are 
maintained for the lower grades and the upper grade pupils are transported to a central 
school . This type oi consolidation is prevalent in many conservative districts through- 
out the United States. In Missouri, the Buford-CoUey Act provides for partial con- 
oolidation as well as for complete consolidation. It is a more expensi\e scheme than 
complete consolidation, but prepares the way for the latter. 

In complete consolidation, as the name signifies, the small outlying schools are all 
consolidated at a central point. The school maintains an up-to-date plant with a 
carefully gTaded system, an efficient teaching force, and a course of study embracing 
both the academic and industrial phases of the cun-iculum. There are many such 
schools throughout the United States, especially in the States where consolidation 
has made the greatest progress. These schools are organized in the open country or 
about a village or town as a center. 

THE MODERN ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL. 

There are places where because of geographical conditions the one- 
teacher schools must continue to exist. In order to best meet the 
needs of the community such a one- teacher school should contain : 

A plant standardized as to light, heat, ventilation, and sanitation. There should 
be ample provision for teaching the industrial subjects. This would mean a one- 
teacher building with st veral rooms and sufficient ground for laboratory experiments 
in agricultural subjects, and a house for the teacher. 

The teacher in charge should be a person who prefers the country to the city and is 
trained to meet the problems arising in a one-teacher community school. This teacher 
should be hired for the entire year. During the summer the school work should be 
largely industrial and should be carried on in connection with projects worked out 
at home. 

A course of study that serves the peculiar needs of the community. 

THE CONSOLffiATED SCHOOL. 

It is safe to say that the period of experimentation in school con- 
solidation has passed. The movement has come to be accepted as 
good national polic3^ The important thing at this time is to see that 
school consolidation shall come in its best form, otherwise little wiU 
be gained by displacing the old type of education. 

The most satisfactory type of consolidated school is planned to give 
the rural community just the kind of education required by an agri- 
cultural population; broadly cultural and yet practical, preparing 
them for happy, wholesome remunerative living on the land. Man}^ 
of the early consolidated schools were planned as big graded schools, 
offering courses of study in no sense adapted to the needs of rural 
districts. The school should he organized with a view to preparing j for 
the new agricultural era a permanent farming population of highest 
ideals. Some of the essentials to be included in a just consolidation 
law are these: 

1. State aid to be given on conditions assuring the State department of education 
that the school will be properly maintained, organized, and taught. 



30 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



2. State aid might be given as aid in (a) erecting the new building; (b) for annual 
maintenance pro\dded (1) that no less than five acres of land be utilized for grounds 
and experiment plats, (2) that a home be erected on the premises for the principal 
and other teachers, (3) that the principal and instructor in agriculture, at least, be 
hired by the year to give all the time to the school and agricultural community, and 
(4) that the course of study be adapted to the needs of its particular agricultural section. 

RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS. 

One of the most urgent problems in rural education is to provide the 
people with easily accessible rural high schools. The percentage of 



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country people educated in secondary schools of rural type is amaz- 
ingly small in contrast with the percentage of city people who have 
the advantages of city high schools. Rural people who are favorably 



SCHOOL FINANCES. 31 

situated with regard to town high school facilities take advantage of 
the latter, although it often draws the farming class away from agri- 
cultural activities into other callings. City schools are organized for 
city children; rural high schools should be organized for rural children. 
Some people, and farmers among them, hold the false opinion that to 
distinguish between city and country people in educational affairs 
amounts to discrimination against country children. Such opinion 
is based on the assumption that city life is superior to country life 
which to those who understand it best is really the only normal 
American life there is. 

The present trend is to establish rural high schools of an agri- 
cultural type in connection with the consolidated schools, either in the 
open country or in the rural villages and to 'plan the work of these 
schools so as to meet the needs of all country people, whether they are of 
ordinary school age or not. 

The legislatures might well pass legislation making provision for 
the following types of educational activities in connection with the 
rural high schools: 

1. The elimination of illiteracy and Americanization of the foreign 
born. 

2. Continuation schools for people beyond ordinary school age. 

3. Part-time schools for people who must work for a livelihood. 

4. Educational extension courses for young and old people. 

v.— SCHOOL FINANCES. 

One of the most vital factors in an efficient public-school system is the law 
which provides the necessary funds . A school system that has ample funds 
can have all that is necessary in buildings, in grounds, in equipment, in 
length of school term, and in teachers adequately prepared for their work. 

The responsibility for the establishment of an efficient public-school 
system rests jointly upon the Nation, the State, the county, or other 
administrative subdivision, and the school community, 

STATE AND COUNTY TAXATION. 

In every progressive State system of education such areas or 
units of taxation should be created or continued, if already in exist- 
ence, as will fully develop the sound American principle that the 
whole wealth of the State shall be made available for educating all 
the youth of the State. This is both right and necessary, as in the 
United States education is largely a state function to be supported 
like other civil functions. 

From a national standpoint there are rich States and poor States 
in which all the children of all the people should be provided with 
equal educational opportunity. The same is true from the stand- 
point of the State as concerns counties or townships, and of counties 
as concerns local-school communities. But the facts already cited 



32 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



in favor of Federal aid prove beyond a doubt that practically half 
of the children of school age in the United States are far from having 



STATC TAX 
AND APPROPRIATIONS. 



COUNTY A.ND LOCAL TAX. 



PER.MAK1ENT 
FUNDS. 



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SOOaCES- 




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PER CtNT 9^ SCHOOL FUND DERIVED FRO^\ EACM 50URCE. 1915-1916. 

U.S. BUREAU o^ EDUCATION REPORT I9n p.^^ 

This chart shows graphically the several sources of school revenue in the United States. Unfortunately 
it is impossible, with the data at hand, to separate county and other local taxes. 

equal educational opportunity with the other more fortunate half. 
There is not a single State in which all the children have equal 
educational opportunity. 



SCHOOL FINANCES. 



33 



In several States the per cent of all rural pupils completing the eighth grade is less 
than 30, while the per cent of all city pupils completing the eighth grade is 86. In 
other words, nearly 300 per cent more of city pupils complete the eighth grade in such 
States than do farm pupils. The per cent of rural pupils completing the high school 
in several States is less than 5, while the per cent of all city pupils completing the 
high school in such States is 29. In other words, over 700 per cent more of city pupils 

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complete the high school in such States than do farm pupils. This illustrates the 
neglect of rural education in all States. 

Much of this discrimination against rural pupils in the meager educational oppor- 
tunity provided for them comes from lack of appreciation of education on the part 
of the farm people themselves. But most of it must be charged to the antiquated, 
unjust, and undemocratic methods in the system of public-school taxation that 
prevails in many States. 

98618°— 19 5 



34 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



THE COUNTY, THE TAX UNIT FOR GENERAL SCHOOL MAINTENANCE. 

A sound and progressive State policy of public education must 
provide definite plans of support which will insure the successful 
carrying out of the best educational policies throughout the entire 
State. Tlie county should he the responsible unit of local educational 




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support in harmony with the plans of the State as a whole. In this 
manner it will be possible to equalize the conditions of taxation and 
expenditure within the constituent districts. The local school 
communities should he allowed to supplement the county tax in order 
to more fully realize local ideals, because the county tax may not 



SCHOOL FINANCES. 



35 



always be sufficient for that purpose. The county tax tends to 
insure a fair taxation and expenditure throughout its borders, but 
at that point it reaches its limitations. 

A STATE-WIDE TAX EMINENTLY JUST. 

In order to safeguard the interests of the State as a whole and develop 
the larger sections which are in need of help, a permanent State tax is 




necessary. In the second place, the State should levy an annual 
school tax which, in addition to the income from the permanent 
funds, would amount to not less than one-third of the total public- 
school revenue. Such a proportion properly expended will tend 
to equalize conditions throughout the State. The experience of 



% 



36 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

some of the most progressive State-school systems, such as are 
found in California, Montana, and New Jersey, shows the great 
value of a well-directed State tax of good proportions. 

The proceeds of the State tax should be used to extend a special 
aid to poor districts in the sparsely settled sections of the State 
where consolidation of schools is yet impracticable. It might also 
well be used as a stimulus to further consolidation of schools, and 
in assisting communities to maintain teacher- training departments 
in high schools; also for the association of district schools and for 
the maintenance of rural high schools. The amount of aid granted 
should be based on the aggregate daily attendance and the number 
of teachers employed rather than on the total school population of 
the county district. 

PUBLIC EDUCATION INVOLVES CONTINUALLY GROWING EXPENSES. 

The essential characteristic of first-class educational support is 
stability and growth. A fluctuating income can not bring good 
results. It is therefore necessary to raise and expend as large an 
amount of money as the State and counties can afford in order to 
teach the maximum of efficiency. A study of the expenditures in 
some of the States with first-class public-school systems shows 
that these States have been willing to do many times as much as 
some other States in order to reach their goal. Public education 
can not be a money-saving process. TJie present conditions in this 
country demand a much larger expenditure than heretofore in order to 
obtain the needed efficiency of school service. 

Progressive legislation on school taxation should consider the 
following: 

1. The adoption of the county as the unit of local taxation; the 
funds when collected to be used for general school maintenance and 
to equalize educational advantages over the county. 

2. The local school community to be authorized to levy taxes or 
to issue bonds for extraordinary purposes only, such as erecting new 
buildings and procuring larger sites and school farms. 

3. The levying of a State tax equivalent to not less than one-third 
of the whole school maintenance of the State (including the present 
permanent school fund). 

4. The adoption of a permanent millage tax for the maintenance 
of the State's higher educational institutions, to be apportioned 
according to the needs of each institution, to supplant legislative 
appropriations. 

5. The adoption of a new basis for the distribution of the present 
State permanent fund and future State taxes as follows: (a) The 
permanent fund to he .distributed on the basis of aggregate daily attend- 
ance and the number of teachers employed instead of, as now usually 



SCHOOL FIN^ANCES. 



37 



done, on the basis of school population, provided that weak schools 
in sparsely settled sections of the State be given special State aid 
sufficient to maintain an annual school of at leat eight months; (b) 
the proposed State taxes to he awarded for consolidation of schools, estah- 




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lishment of rural and other high schools, only when the local school 
communities have indicated their cooperation by agreeing to certain 
requirements made by law as a stipulation under which such aid 
may be received. 



38 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

VI.— PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

THE WAR*S REVELATION OF THE NEED. 

The war has aroused all nations to an appreciation of the value of 
physical education. Man power is recognized as the most valuable 
of all national resources. We sent 2,000,000 splendid young men 
across the seas and we had another 2,000,000 in training when the 
armistice was signed. These were the very pick an4 pride of the 
Nation. But there is another side of the picture. Of the millions 
of young men who were drafted about 20 per cent were physically 
unfit for any military service and about 15 per cent more were fit for 
limited service only; few of those who were accepted were physically 
well trained ; even fewer had been taught to take good physical care 
.of themselves. The defects which made these men unfit for military 
service are largely preventable ; the lack of training and the ignorance 
of health laws are entirely preventable. A thoroughgoing program 
of physical education in our schools would prevent or remedy these 
deficiencies. 

PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE STATE LEGISLATION. 

■ Since the beginning of the war in 1914 eight States have enacted 
physical education laws.^ Careful study of these laws both on paper 
and in operation shows that certain principles must be recognized 
and incorporated into such laws if they are to be effective. The 
enactment of weak and perfunctory legislation will result in failure 
and disappointment.^ 

PRINCIPLES GOVERNING STATE LEGISLATION FOR PHYSICAL EDU- 
CATION. 

The enactment of an adequate and effective State law for physical 
education requires a clear understanding of three things: The 
objects to be secured through physical education; the processes and 
accessories necessary for securing these objects; the specific pro- 
visions that must be incorporated in the legislative measure. 

1. Objects of lyJiysical education. — Obviously the object of a State 
law for physical education is to secure the development of the 
potential physical capacity of the boys and girls of the State; to make 
them physically, morally, and socially fit for the duties of citizenship 
and the joy of wholesome living. Quite as obviously, no system 
of education, however broadly conceived, can do this single-handed. 
Education is but one of the social agencies involved in the successful 
upbringing of youth. Good housing, adequate food, and sane 
regulation of juvenile labor are equally necessary. Without these 

1 Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, Nevada, Maryland, and Delaware. 
• For fuller information see Recent State Legislation for Physical Education. Bureau of Education, 
Bulletin, 1918, No. 40. (In press.) 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 39 

cooperative conditions, any system of physical education can be 
only partially successful in its appointed task of developing the 
physical capacity of the youth of the State; but an adequate and 
effective system of physical education will surely stimiilate the 
development of these other agencies in a State. 

2. Processes and accessories. — The processes and accessories by 
which the development of physical capacity are effected may be 
classified with sufficient accuracy as follows: 

(i) Processes — 

(a) Sufficient physical activity of the right character to insure de- 
velopment of strength, endurance, agility, and trained control of the 
muscular powers; and the moral and social qualities of courage, self- 
control, self -subordination, cooperation, and initiative. 

(b) Training into health habits and instruction in health knowl- 
edgre in order that the individual mav know how to take care of his 
^'animal machine" and may reverence it as a servant for high purposes. 

(2) Accessories — 

(a) Physical examination — the charting, as it were, of each indi- 
vidual's physical character — repeated at sufficiently frequent inter- 
vals to secure a record of growth and physical status. 

(b) Provision for correction of deficient bodily conditions that 
impair health and development. 

(c) Adequate space and equipment for exercise appropriate to 
varying ages and varying physical and mental status of children and 
youth. 

(d) Sanitary school environment, including buildings, grounds, 
and equipment. 

(e) Organization and management of the daily school program 
and methods of instruction in the interest of health and vigor. 

3. Legislative "provision. — ^The legislative provision necessary to an 
effective State system of physical education will include the following : 

(1) A clear statement of the purpose and object of the law. 

(2) Provision of administrative machinery in the State department 
of education sufficient for the effective administration of the law. 
This provision should be broad and flexible. Two things are 
essential : 

(a) State direction and supervision. The best plan is a State 
director of physical education with the rank of deputy or assistant 
State superintendent. His powers and duties must not be narrowly 
defined. 

(b) Sufficient financial resources to insure the effective adminis- 
tration of this office, either by specific appropriation or by author- 
izing the State department to make adequate appropriation for this 
purpose out of general school funds. 



40 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

(3) Provision for the continuous physical education of all children 
and youth of school age (6-18) in the State, as follows: 

(a) All children in all grades and departments of the public schools. 

(b) All children in institutional and private schools. 

(c) All students in normal schools and other schools in which 
teachers are trained. 

(d) All boys and girls of school age in industry. This may be 
secured by extending the continuation school program so as to 
make physical education obligatory up to 18; or it may be secured 
by recognizing and crediting such agencies as municipal playgrounds', 
Boy Scouts, and Young Men's Christian Association. Attempts at 
precise definition in the law should be avoided. It should be left 
as an administrative problem under general authorization. 

(4) A minimum time requirement for physical education of one 
hour each day. It should be explicit that this is the minimum and 
that school authorities are encouraged to increase the time devoted 
to play, recreation, and athletics outside the regular school hours. 
For children in the higher grades and in industry, activities that are 
approved by the State director of physical education as equivalent 
to prescribed courses in physical education should be accepted as 
fulfilling, in whole or in part, the time and quality requirements 
in physical education. 

(5) There should be a carefully drawn provision authorizing and 
requiring the employment of supervisors and special teachers under 
specified conditions and in harmony with the administrative organi- 
zation of the State. A State with a -county unit organization would 
require county supervisors; one with supervisory districts would 
require district supervisions. City systems would require both 
supervisors and special teachers — the latter for intermediate and 
high schools at least. By '^ specified conditions" is meant that a 
supervisor should be required for a given unit of school population, 
the size of the unit to depend upon density of population. 

(6) Provision for State aid to county and local authorities in part 
payment of the salaries of supervisors and special teachers. 

(7) Provision requiring the State department of education to fix: 
qualifications of supervisors and special teachers and to issue special 
licenses for the same. 

(8) Provision for adequate physical education in the preparation 
of all teachers, both for the secondary and the elementary school. 
The essential requirements of this part of the teacher's education 
should be prescribed by the State authorities. 

(9) Special provision for training regular class teachers already in 
the service in order that they may do their essential part in the pro- 
gram of physical education. 

(10) Provision requiring that pupils be graded in physical educa- 
tion as in other school subjects and exercises and that satisfactory 



SCHOOL GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS. 41 

progress in physical education be a condition to promotion and 
graduation. 

(11) Effective provision for coordinating medical and sanitary 
supervision of schools with the physical education. Otherwise such 
essential factors in a complete program of physical education as 
detection and correction of defects and sanitary conditions of grounds, 
buildings, and equipment will be neglected. Most States having 
medical inspection laws will need to revise and extend them. In 
States having no such laws the enactment of medical inspection and 
physical education laws should be worked out so as to insure effective 
coordination. Under medical and sanitary supervision there should 
certainly be included provision (a) for inspection for detection and 
control of communicable disease; (b) for periodic examination to 
discover abnormalities that prevent or retard development; (c) for 
the employment of school nurses; (d) for school clinics to insure 
remedying of defects and disabilities (especially dental and eye 
clinics) ; and (e) for regular inspection of school buildings, premises, 
and drinking water to insure sanitary conditions. 

(12) If, as in some of the laws already enacted, reference is made 
to military training, the interrelations should be clearly recognized. 
A system of physical education worthy the name must include all 
the essentials of premilitary training: Development of sound physi- 
cal condition; training in care of one's physical self; training in co- 
operation; and respect for discipHne. Drill in tactics and the manual 
of arms can not be accepted as a substitute or equivalent for the 
course in physical education. If military training is authorized in 
the law, then the State director of physical education should be 
authorized and required to pass upon the value of any proposed plan 
of miUtary training and to accept it as a substitute for physical edu- 
cation only in so far as it includes the health, vigor, and endurance- 
producing features of the physical education program. 

VIL— SCHOOL GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS. 

Public school grounds, weU located, neatly kept, with beautiful 
and convenient buildings, are the most striking evidence of the 
intelligence of a community and its interest in education. 

Better school conditions invariably mean better schools and better 
community spirit. 

A beautiful and convenient school building costs little more than 
an unsightly one. 

An excellent authority maintains that ^' a good school is the best 
asset and the best dividend-paying property in any community." 

A State report offers the following significant advice: 

As the proper instruction of our boys and girls is the highest and most important 
function in which the home, the community, and the States unite, the school building 



43 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



and grounds of every locality should be a concrete expression of its highest ideals, a 
translation into visible form of the best thought of the best minds, the outgrowth and 
consummation of all that it can conceive and do for the physical, intellectual, and 
spiritual needs of its youth. 

The delay occasioned by the war in schoolhouse construction has 
given time and opportunity to study the most modern types of school 
buildings, to profit by the mistakes already made, and to change 
existing plans to conform to the highest standards of efficiency. 



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IDEAL RURAL SCHOOL GROUNDS 



Groimd plan of an ideal rural community school, prepared in miniature by the Bureau of Education for 
the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Provision is made for housing the teacher and in other ways making 
the school a real farmers' school. 

The order of the chairman of the War Industries Board, issued Novem- 
ber 21, 1918, revoJced all restrictions placed upon non-war public 
buildings. 

School buildings that were partly constructed and new ones with plans 
approved and bonds voted and sold may now be completed without 
further interruption. 



SCHOOL GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS. 43 

PROVISIONS FOR SUITABLE BUILDINGS AND THEIR USE. 

, During the coming year schoolhouse construction will probably far 
exceed that of any past year. The scarcity and high cost of building 
materials, together with the inadequate supply of labor, will soon be 
adjusted so that the present partly completed school buildings may 
be ready for occupancy at the opening of the school year 1919. 

State aid for rural districts and for high schools maintaining courses 
in special subjects, such as agriculture, manual training, and domestic 
science, is common in many States, and the demand is growing. 
State aid is usually based on a requirement that suitable buildings 
and equipment be provided by the district. No State aid should he 
he given a school district unless the school huilding is in good condition 
and of sufficient size to provide for the future growth of the school. 

The unit plan of school solves the problem of needed additions to 
meet State aid requirements. This is a plan for a composite building 
larger than may be needed immediately, but which provides that the 
structure may be built in two, three, or four sections at different 
times. 

In some of the States the schoolhouse is used as a polling place. State school laws 
frequently permit and recommend the use of the schoolhouse as a community center. 

School buildings are the property of the people and should be used by them. The 
following motto has been suggested as a legend to be placed above the door of every 
schoolhouse } ' ' This building is dedicated to the service of this community and to the 
common cause of a better life for all." 

For community use an assembly room is essential even in a one- teacher school. It 
is possible to plan the building so that the main room, while in daily use as a class- 
room, may be adapted to serve as a community auditorium for evening gatherings. 
This may be accomplished with very little additional expense. Such plans are now 
being prepared by the United States Bureau of Education for general distribution. 

In selecting the site for a new school building in rural sections, its use as a community 
center should receive particular attention. The schoolhouse should be placed at the 
natural center of the community. Our schoolhouses at present are used for directors' 
meetings, for farmers' institutes, and gatherings of different descriptions. The war 
has forced a public use of thousands of school buildings that otherwise would not have 
been so used. They w^ere utilized for Red Cross work, Liberty Loan drives, and 
Thrift Stamp campaigns. This is the true community service to which every school 
building in the land should be dedicated. 

PLANS FOR BUILDINGS TO BE PROVIDED BY STATE. 

Nine-tenths of the now existing regulations governing schoolhouse 
construction have been passed by the legislatures of the different 
States during the past decade.^ More than 40 States now have laws 
on the subject of hygienic features in school architecture. 

In four States the boards of health provide sanitary regulations for 
all school buildings. In five States the boards of health cooperate with 
the State boards of education and the State architeot in preparing 

1 Bulletin, 1914, No. 12. 2 Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 21. 



44 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

school building plans. In 19 States the State boards of education 
approve the plans for school buildings. In 30 States the approval of 
school plans or impiovements is vested in the State authorities. 

SCHOOL PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS SHOULD BE PREPARED WHOLLY 
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF COMPETENT STATE AUTHORITY. 

So strong is sentiment growing in favor of having plans and speci- 
fications of new school buildings, repairs, enlargements, and remodel- 
ing of old ones, approved and supervised by competent State au- 
thorities that soon every State will have definite laws for governing 
solioolhouse construction. General satisfaction invariably follows 
the enactment of such legislation, because it relieves the local school 
board of all responsibility and saves the cost of a special building 
inspector. Such plans should include proper heating, lighting, and 
ventilation for school buildings, and establish uniform standards for 
the entire State. Ohio and Indiana, among other States, have very 
complete sanitary regulations provided in the school code. 

The following chart sliows the status of regulation of schoolhouse 
construction in the different States. 

The legislatures might well consider the following while for- 
mulating legislation on school buildings and improvements: 

That such laws be enacted as will allow the freest possible use of public school 
buildings for community center activities, to make the public school buildings true 
community forums. 

That all plans for school buildings or improvements be approved by the State de- 
partment of education, acting in cooperation with the State board of health; that a 
State school architect be selected for this work, and that the power of condemnation 
of school buildings and grounds be in the hands of competent State authority; that the 
selection of all school sites and the location of the school buildings on these sites be 
also approved by the State board of education or by some competent authority selected 
by this board. 

That where no constitutional limitation is placed upon the rate of taxation, the legis- 
lature enact such laws as will allow the people of every district freedom in voting a 
rate of taxation that will provide the needed support of their public schools, to in- 
clude new schoolhouse construction and necessary improvements. 

That no State aid should be given any district which has not made full provision 
for the care and protection of the school grounds and school buildings; that State aid 
for weaker districts be given to those who comply with the rules and regulations of 
the State department only. 



SCHOOL GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS. 



45 



CHART 5H0WING STATUS Of REGULATION Of SCHOOlilOUSE 
IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE YEAH 1915 

COMPILED EST FKANK. IRVING COOPEFt. AROTlTECT BOSTON. 



CONSTRUCTION 




A This OC^TROL 15 BY THE 
WISCQNSIM INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION 



COPYRIGHT leiS 
FRANH IRVJWG CXXJPCRj 



BEG UL AT ION 



46 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

Vra.— PREPARATION OF TEACHERS. 



Even before the war, tlie most difficult phase of the whole educa- 
tional problem was how to get and retain a sufficient number of 
weU-prepared teachers. Since the coimtry's entrance into the war, 
the problem has become greatly intensified. Now is the time, there- 
fore, to drive home to the people what is necessary before better 
things can be attained in the field of professional teaching. The 

PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY TEACHERS 

^N3\/VEPt5 rROM ^,Q^/ RURAL TE/XCHEIR^ 




people will have to become fully aware of their responsibility toward 
the teacher; they will have to make schools and housing conditions 
more attractive than they now are; and in other ways make possible 
long weU-paid tenures in the same community. 

The several legislatures should, by legal enactment, safeguard the 
profession and offer special inducements to aU teachers to equip 



PREPARATION OF TEACHERS. 47 

themselves well for teaching as a life work. On this basis, the teachers 
will be more ready than now to do their share to attain real pro- 
fessional standrads of teaching. 

Conditions are particularly bad in the rural schools. The bureau estimate for 
past years places the annual number of new rural teachers at about 87,500. The pro- 
portion of beginning teachers for the current year is abnormally large. In some 
counties as high as 85 per cent of the teachers have had no previous experience. It 
appears that at least 125,000 inexperienced teachers are employed in rural communi- 
ties this year. In addition to this, the rural schools are losing most of their men 
teachers because the salaries paid are not sufficient for the support of a man and his 
family. 

The graphic representation given on the preceding page gives the situation from 
the teachers' point of view. It is the result of a Bureau of Education study of all the 
rural teachers in South Dakota; 42.7 per cent of the teachers are permanently in the 
schools; 10.5 per cent are uncertain as to whether or not they will remain per- 
manently in the profession; and 46.8 per cent do not intend to make teaching their 
life profession. The reasons reported why these teachers do not intend to remain per- 
manently in the schools should be cause for serious consideration by legislatures as 
they tell the story of rural teachers for every State in the Union. 

REASONABLE STANDARDS FOR TEACHER PM:PARATI0N. 

Adequate legislation on the basis of the comprehensive plan out- 
lined below will unquestionably provide the State with a high-grade 
professional teaching-staff: 

1. Improve teaching conditions by — 

(a) Establishing reasonable minimum salaries for all teachers. 

(b) Scaling all teacher's salaries to the grade of certificate held, thus placing a 
premium on special preparation. 

2. Require higher teaching qualifications by — 

(a) Increasing, gradually, the entrance requirements of the State normal schools 
and lengthening their study courses. 

(6) Discontinuing the issue of certificates on examination as soon as the normal 
schools and other teacher-training institutions have become fully equipped to supply 
all the professional teachers required. 

(c) Placing the minimum requirement for permission to teach at graduation from 
an accredited four-year high school, or its equivalent, and in addition at least one 
year's professional study acquired at a professional school for teachers. The standard 
not to go into effect before ample time (1 to 4 years) is given for all teachers in the 
service to attain these requirements. 

3. Increase the supply of professional teachers by — 

(a) Granting State bonuses to teachers as rewards for long service in a single school 
community. 

(b) Establishing a retirement fund for teachers. 

RADICAL STEPS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE THE NECESSARY SUPPLY OF 

RURAL TEACHERS. 

The Nation needs immediately many thousand specifically pre- 
pared teachers for the new consohdated and other rural schools, in 
order to make these schools real farm community schools. This may 
be accomplished by establishing, through legislative enactment, 



48 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

teacher-training departments in all the higher educational institu- 
tions in the State which can at all adapt their work to this end. This 
would usu,ally include: 

1. State normal schools — in specificall}^ organized departments. 

2. Schools of education in universities and colleges — in special 
courses for special rural school administration and supervision. 

3. Agricultural colleges — in specific departments or courses for 
special subject teachers and supervisors, and principals of large rural 
schools of agricultural type. 

4. Fully accredited high schools — in fifth year course teacher- 
training departments. 

5. Extension service for teachers in service — to aid them to meet 
the increased academic and professional standards contemplated 
above. 

IX.— CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS. 

From the very early times in our educational history, whenever any 
ormal recognition of the school was taken, or support given to them 
by civil authorities, it has been the custom to require of the teacher 
some sort of certificate of proficiency. Early requirements were very 
meager and generally of a religious or moral nature rather than of an 
academic nature, though as early as 1789 in Massachusetts gradua- 
tion from college or university was recognized as sufficient guarantee 
of ability to teach. These early customs, however inadequate, estab- 
lished a precedent ; for all State systems of schools when effected leg- 
alized the idea of exacting some standard of attainment from appli- 
cants to teach. 

The power of certifying teachers was vested by the early laws, 
sometimes in the State, as in New York; sometimes in the county, as 
in Missouri and Indiana; sometimes exclusively in the local authori- 
ties, as in Massachusetts, and sometimes in all of them. County 
authorities, however, were the most convenient and popular for the 
purpose and the majority of the States vested some or all of the cer- 
tifying power in them. Later, State departments of education as- 
sumed new importance and prestige, and educational powders were 
granted to State superintendents. Higher efficiency and unified re- 
quirements were secured under these new conditions by including 
among the legal duties of the State superintendent that of granting 
certificates of State-wide validity. 

CENTRALIZING TEACHER CERTIFICATION IN THE STATE DEPART- 

MENTS OF EDUCATION. 

State and county certification prevailed in the majority of States 
almost from the establishment of their State school systems. In 
1887 42 of the 48 States and Territories issued certificates from both 
of these sources. Four States issued county or loc^l certificates only. 



CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS. 49 

Two States had so centralized the certificating authority that all cer- 
tificates were issued from the State department. 

By 1903 the number of States having the centralized State cer- 
tificating system had increased to 8. Four still issued county cer- 
tificates only, and in the remaining 36 both States and county 
certificates or local certificates, as in Louisiana and Maine, were 
issued. 

By 1911 25 States, or 30 per cent of the total number had adopted 
the centraHzed system of issuing certificates from the State only, and 
by 1918 50 per cent had accomplished complete centralization. 

As additional evidence of centralizing tendencies in the matter of certification, it 
may be added that of the States which still grant certificating authority to counties, 
much of the responsibility of that privilege such as giving out and examining questions 
is assumed by the State department. This tendency is on the increase. In 1911, 
of those States in which county certification prevailed, 8 per cent retained in the 
State department the power of giving questions and examining papers." In 1918 
93 per cent of the county certificating States retained the papers grading authority 
in the State department. 

REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION. 

The early indefinite requirements, such as " evidence satisfactory to the examining 
power" (either local or State authorities) passed into more definite ones, and subjects 
for examination were enumerated in the law. Reasonably typical of these was the 
law of Indiana, which required that teachers should be examined " touching their 
qualifications, and particularly with respect to their knowledge of the English language, 
writing, and arithmetic." Additional subjects were added from time to time. The 
custom was early established of grading certificates according to the standing of appli- 
cants and of making the duration dependent upon the grade. 

In the meantime professional preparation for teaching was becoming more and more 
•common since the establishment of the first normal school in 1839, and demands were 
increasing that certificates without examination be given to graduates of professional 
schools. By 1873 the discussion of the professional license had become quite general 
and various States recognized the demands. By 1890, 25 States had added to the 
branches in which teachers were examined — one or more professional subjects, usually 
theory and practice of teaching, or mental philosophy, or didactics. According to 
the report of the Commissioner of Education for 1897, 28 recognized graduation from 
normal schools or universities as evidence of qualification for certification without 
examination. By 1903 the number of these States had increased to 31. Diu-ing the 
period from 1911 to 1918 the percentage of States which recognized professional train- 
ing as a basis for certification increased from 56 to 100 per cent. In 1903, 41 States of 
the 48 States or Territories included professional subjects in the examining list. This 
recognition of the efficacy of some form of professional training or examination in pro- 
fessional subjects as controlling factors in judging teaching ability is rapidly gaining 
a permanent foothold in school legislation throughout the country. All States now 
include professional subjects in teachers' examinations and the questions of tliis 
nature are constantly increasing in number and difficulty. 

However, the fact that mere recognition is given does not show 
the full force of the growth of the demand for professional training 
on the part of applicants to teach. A concerted and almost universal 



50 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

movement is now on foot to increase both academic and professional 
requirements for certification. This is shown by the fact that several 
States not only recognize graduation from a professional school as 
one means, but as the only means of preparation for teaching. These 
States are now requiring graduation from a full four-year high school, 
usually one which includes professional subjects in its curriculum; 
or a minimum amount of professional training, or both, as a pre- 
requisite for any kind of certificate. In 1911 Indiana established 
this precedent, and at the present time 27 per cent of the States in 
the Union make such requirement. 

SPECIALIZATION A REQUISITE FOR CERTIFICATION. 

The teaching profession should be specialized at least as highly as 
other learned and technical professions. Such a plan involves no 
new idea, but simply carrying to its logical conclusion that already 
involved in the certification plans of practically all States at the 
present time and shown in the differentiation of certificates, as high- 
school, kindergarten, special-subjects certificates. The educational 
world now recognizes that a marked distinction is necessary in the 
preparation of candidates for rural school certificates, special voca- 
tional certificates, and the like. 

The next step in legislation should demand (1) a certain amount of 
professional training in addition to high-school graduation as a pre- 
requisite for all certificates; and {2) a higher degree of specialization 
in preparation — manifested on the face of the certificate. 

PLAN OF CERTIFICATION. 

A few States have adopted the horizontal as distinguished from 
the vertical plan of certification. This plan involves two grades 
of certificates, first and second, for high schools, two for elementary 
schools, two for primary and kindergarten, and two for special 
subjects, rather than general certificates of two or three grades recog- 
nized in all schools of all grades. The plan of certification should 
be the horizontal one, with special certificates of two grades for at 
least the following: High school, rural and city; elementary schools, 
rural and city; primary and kindergarten school certificates, and 
certificates in special subjects such as music, drawing, and art. 

About one-third of the States require some professional training as a prerequisite 
for all, or nearly all, of the certificates granted. The Maryland law, e. g., permits 
the issue of one grade of certificate, the third, without professional training, but 
third-grade certificates are accepted only when the supply of higher-certificate 
teachers is exhausted. Another indication of the growing importance of professional 
training is offered by the fact that since 1911 the number of States granting renewals 
of certificates on the basis of some sort of professional training has increased from 18 
to 40 per cent. 



CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS. 51 

The most marked, and probably the most important tendencies of certification provisions 
of the last few years are {1 ) that toward making a certain minimum of academic and pro- 
fessional training prerequisite for any certificate, and {2) that of approximating State-wide 
unity of requirement by concentrating the certificating power in the State department. 
The latter is now practically accomplished. 

The time has long since passed when the American public can afford to intrust the 
education of its children to the uneducated and untrained as it has done in the past. 
The State has the power to raise the standard of qualification for teachers through 
legal enactments concerning certification. Investigations made by the Bureau of 
Education in several States show that from 30 to 40 per cent of the teachers holding 
• legal certificates at the time of malving the surveys were untrained. 

No man of prominence has emphasized the value of professional 
preparation with better logic than the late eT. Sterling Morton : 

We demand educated educators. We demand professionally trained teachers, men 
and women of irreproachable character and well tested abilities. We demand from 
our legislature laws raising the standard of the profession and exalting the office of the 
teacher. As the doctor of medicine or the practitioner at law is only admitted within the 
pale of his calling upon the production of his parchment or certificates, so the applicant 
for the position of instructor in our primary and other schools should be required by 
law to first produce his diploma, his authority to teach, from the normal schools. 

We call no uneducated quack or charlatan to perform surgery upon the bodies of 
our children lest they may be deformed, crippled, and maimed physically all their 
lives. Let us take equal care that we entrust the development of the mental facul- 
ties to skilled instructors of magnanimous character that the mentalities of our chil- 
dren may not be mutilated, deformed, and crippled to halt and limp through all the 
centuries of their never-ending lives. The deformed body will die and be forever 
put out of sight under the ground, but a mind made monstrous by bad teaching dies 
not, but stalks forever among the ages, an immortal mockery of the di\dne image. 

It is recognized that the adoption of suggestions herein outlined 
would in some States result in a shortage of applicants possessing 
qualifications specified. To overcome this a slow evolution rather 
than a revolution is recommended. While standards and salaries 
both should be raised immediately, the full professional idea of certifi- 
cation may be approached gradually. The following are recommen- 
dations made by the Bureau of Education in various State surveys. 
While made for specific cases they have general application: 

1. The power to grant certificates to teachers should be vested 
in the State department of education. 

2. The State should establish by law reasonable minimum salaries. 

3. The issuance of certificates on examination should be discon- 
tinued as soon as the teacher-training institutions are equipped to 
supply the teachers required. Courses in these institutions should 
be more highly specialized. Certificates granted on the basis of the 
training given should indicate this specialization. 

4. Certificates should be based on the horizontal plan; salaries 
should be scaled to the grade of certificate held. 

5. The legislature should establish a fixed date from one to five 
years after the passage of the law, after which graduation from a 
standard normal school should be demanded as a prerequisite for 



62 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



any certificate. While such an arrangement may seem to be inex- 
pedient because of the difficulty to secure teachers, States which have 
by legislation established such standards find that the supply of 
teachers rises to the demand after a few years. 

X.— TEACHERS' SALARIES, TENURE, AND RETIREMENT 

PENSIONS. 

Salaries of teachers are so low that they offer neither incentive to 
professional preparation, nor encouragement to long tenure. More- 
over, the new and more lucrative opportunities which the war has 
made available to teachers have made serious inroads on the pro- 
fession. It can not now be expected that qualified persons will 




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TEACHEES' SALARIES, TEXUEE, AND EETIEEMENT PENSIONS. 53 



continue to teach, or that capable ones will prepare for teaching, 
unless radical and sweeping changes are forthcoming in the salary 
scale. The cost of living has increased since 1913 as follows: 

Food 85 per cent. 

Clothing 106 per cent. 

Drugs 103 per cent. 

Fuel ' 53 per cent. 

House furnishing goods 75 per cent. 

Teachers' salaries have not increased in a proportionate ratio. Re- 
cent data collected by the Bureau of Education indicate that a Hberal 
estimate for the country at large is 12 per cent. The inadequacy of 
compensation at the present time is indicated by comparisons of teach- 
ers' salaries with those paid in the industries. (See TablesS, 4, and 5.) 

Legislative plans which provide for different grades of certificates 
should recognize the necessity of scaling the salaries according to 
the grades — placing a premium on special preparation. Such a plan 
is now followed in Indiana. This, of course, should be in addition 
to a higher minimum than now exists in the general salary scale. 

Table 3, — Salaries paid in the industries (taken from the Cleveland education survey 

made in 1915). 



Cleve- 
land. 


Boston. 


$1,219 


$1,320 


1,192 


1,244 


1,132 


1,201 


1,003 


957 


992 


1,026 


945 


980 


875 


1,074 


791 


1,001 



Chicago. 



Minne- 
apolis. 



San 
Fran- 
cisco. 



Plumbers... 
Bricklayers. 
Plasterers.. 

Painters 

Carpenters. . 
Molders . . . . 
Machinists.. 
Teachers . . . 



$1,394 
1,293 
1,326 
1,232 
1,139 
942 
884 
1,034 



SI, 044 

1,197 

1,201 

921 

1,030 

927 

958 

937 



$1,540 
1,390 
1,309 
1,081 

964 
1,126 

944 
1,124 



Table 4. — Salaries paid in the navy yards.^ 
Trade. Annual salary. 

Blacksmiths $2, 396. 16 

Radio electricians 2, 321. 28 

Masons, stone and brick 2, 146. 56 

Carpenters 2, 059. 20 

Welders 2, 046. 72 

Plasterers and plumbers 1, 996. 80 

Electricians 1, 996. 80 

Canvas workers 1, 896. 96 

Mechanics 1, 722. 24 

Upholsterers 1, 697. 28 

Chauffeurs 1, 372. 80 

Gardeners : 1, 297. 92 

f 1 '^97 99 

Common laborers < j 2^g' ^q 



Sewers 

Charwomen . 



1,148.16 
873. 60 



Teachers^ 630. 64 

1 Data furnished by the United States Navy Department. 

* Salary of teachers used for comparison is the average annual salary of all teachers— Mrha,n and rural- 
based oh daia gathered in 1918 by the Bureau of Education. 



54 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



Table 5. — Teachers^ wages — Length of school term in months — Number of schoolhouses- 
Value of school jyroperty — All for 1915-16. 



states. 



Continental United States . 



North Atlantic Di\ision. 
North Central Division. . 
South Atlantic DiAision. 
South Central Di\ision . . 
Western Division 



North Atlantic Division: 

Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts , 

Rhode Island 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

North Central Division: 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Michi,?an 

Wisconsin 

Minnesota 

Iowa 

Missouri 

North Dakota (1915).. 

South Dakota 

Nebraska 

Kansas 

South Atlantic Division: 

Delaware 

Maryland 

District of Columbia. . 

Virginia 

West Virginia 

North Carolina 

South Carolina 

Georgia 

Florida :... 

South Central Division: 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Alabama 

Mississippi (1913) 

Louisiana 

Texas 

Arkansas (1915) 

Oklahoma 

Western Division: 

Montana 

Wyoming 

Colorado. 

New Mexico 

Arizona 

Utah 

Nevada...' 

Idaho 

Washington 

Oregon 

California 



Outlying possessions: 

Alaska 

Hawaii , 

Panama Canal Zone . 
Philippine Islands. . . 
Porto Rico 



Average monthlj-- salary of 
teachers. 



Men. 



Women. 



1 $85. 36 



107. 96 
81. 82 
67.90 
70. 56 

117.13 



83.26 

116.39 

90.39 



142. 03 
127. 03 



68.63 
68.73 



106. 24 



98.45 
90.69 
75. 65 
75. 00 



73.21 
83. 89 

2 57. 06 



66.07 



70.54 
65.23 
69.96 



84. 37 
97.28 



75.90 

98.18 

85. 91 

85.93 

79.24 

119.35 

109. 90 

133. 41 

112.38 



151. 63 



75.90 
64.97 
46.40 
57.02 
88.59 



49. .55 
51.05 
44.84 



68.00 
64.16 



50.55 
57.55 
"88." is 



57.69 
57.40 
67.12 
57.20 



50.94 
66.76 

2 42. 37 



45.06 



49.89 
39.25 
51.50 



57.75 

78.87 



59.34 

76.98 
61.91 
65.65 
74.47 
90.65 
80.69 
87.55 
79.31 



106. 71 



All. 



S70. 21 



80.15 
68.14 
50. 65 
61.18 
95. 05 



53.38 
56.74 
48.31 
88.03 
74.27 
68.16 
101. 70 

95. 34 
54.42 

60.31 
74.88 
91.57 
70.40 
62.72 
62.16 
60.90 
69.19 
60.12 
51. 03 
53.60 
69.91 

2 44. 79 
63.04 

112.34 
48.50 
51.69 
42.57 
54.14 
44.49 
55.86 

52.33 
53.72 
50.96 
37.99 
63.10 
84.82 
49.62 
64.27 

79.46 
65. 41 
75.79 
76.58 

96. 30 
88. 95 
94.32 
95.85 
99.26 
86.15 

113.46 



Average 
length of 
school 
year, in 
months. 



Average 

annual 

salary 

of all 

teachers. 



95.89 
69.61 



94.84 
101. 87 



54.43 



53. 20 



8.02 



9.09 
8.36 
6.76 
6.76 
8.39 



$563. 08 



728. .56 
569. 65 
342. 39 
413. .58 
797. 47 



8.06 
8.58 
8.75 
9.09 
9.72 
9.16 
9.51 
*9. 15 
8.64 

8.77 
7.75 
8.20 
*8.60 
8.69 
8.39 
8.50 
8.09 
8.63 
8.50 
8.18 
8.19 

8.54 
8.90 
8.90 
7.05 
6.75 
6.21 
5.43 
6.84 
6.50 

7.20 
6.19 
6.75 
6.15 
6.75 
6.75 
6.75 
7.60 

8.84 
7. 65 
8.35 
7.13 
8.00 
8.15 
8.30 
*7. 75 
8.73 
7.55 
8.80 



95.03 

93.94 

3 13. 26 

53.71 



9.20 
8.60 



8.10 



430. 24 
486. 80 
422. 72 
800.18 
721. 91 

624. 35 
967.20 
872. 34 
470. 18 

528. 88 
580. 32 
750. 85 
605. 47 
545.00 
521. 52 
517. 65 
559. 74 
574. 76 
433. 71 
438. 45 
—2.60 

2 358. 31 
561. 06 
999. 84 
341. 90 
348. 93 

264. 36 
293.99 
304. 31 
363.09 

376. 75 
332. 52 
344.00 
233. 64 
425. 95 
572. 52 
334. 94 
488. 45 

702. 43 
500. 39 
632. 85 
546. 03 
770. 40 
724. 92 
782. 86 
742. 81 
866. 58 
650. 41 
998. 45 



874. 25 
807. 87 



435. 08 



* Statistics of 1914-15. 

1 Estimated for States not reporting salaries of men and women separately. 

* Exclusive of Wilmington. 

8 FiUpino teachers only. Average monthly salary of 506 American teachers, $115.54. 



teachers' salaries, tenure, and retirement pensions. 55 

SCHOOL TENURE. 

It is also important that some recognition be given to tenure of 
office. This is especially necessary outside of cities. Schools 
taught by itinerant teachers must of ' necessity be inefficient. A 
salary bonus provided by State funds for tenure in the same school 
or district would add stability and dignity to teaching in rural 
communities. Indiana, Wisconsin, and Maryland have made a 
beginning in this direction by offering a bonus to those remaining 
more than one year in the same school. 

TEACHERS' RETIREMENT PENSIONS. » . 

Teachers' pension systems are part of a recent movement for 
social insurance. Pensions of some kind have been in existence 
since the Roman Era. They were granted ffi-st as rewards for 
conspicuous bravery, or for military or naval service, or for distin- 
guished contributions in the field of literature, art, or science. As 
the administrative departments of government developed, they also 
introduced pensions, and the practice spread to industry and com- 
merce. Society has com_e to demand that an employee who has 
given the services of a lifetime to an employer be provided for in his 
old age. Social justice demands that this protection be more definite 
and dignified than that of common charity. The justification of 
pensions rests not only on their service in cases of distress, but also 
on the extent to which they may improve the conditions of service, 
increase the efficiency of workers, and promote social welfare gen- 
erally. Any service becomes impaired as a result of the waste and 
demoralization caused by the retention of employees who are 
inefficient because of old age or disability. Their retention dis- 
courages yoimger and abler persons, and clogs the avenues of pro- 
motion. 

A study of 67 pension plans for teachers In the United States, representing 25 
States and 64 counties and cities, shows that the movement for such pensions is 
recent, but wide spread and still extending. Generally the systems are administered 
by special boards, of wliich the teachers constitute a majority. Pro\T.sion is, as a 
rule, made for retirement on the basis of service and disability, but usually only for 
teachers entering the service after the establishment of the system. Funds are ia 
most cases provided by teachers' contributions and by public appropriation in 
approximately equal amounts, but the funds arranged for are frequently insufficient 
to pay the pensions that have been promised. 

The first system of teacher pensions to be established in the United States is that 
of Chicago, which was inaugurated in 1893. Before 1900 seven other systems had 
been founded. Before 1910 there were 23 more. More than one-half of all systems 
(36), however, have come into existence since the beginning of 1910. There are now 
State-wide pension systems for teachers in 21 States, permissive systems in 4 

1 Information and graphic map taken from report of the National Education Association, Committee 
on Salaries, Pensions, and Tenure. 



56 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



others, and the local system in more. Thus 34 States are represented in the 
movement. 

The existing pension systems are sometimes administered by the superintendent 
or commissioner of education, sometimes by the board of education, but in nearly 
four-fifths of the systems there is a special pension board or commission or committee. 




• Pi 
s ill 

^ bill 

0-S ^ '^ 1 1 

va "SiJ "^ 3 



These boards have fi'om 3 to 11 members. Two-thii'ds of them have 5 or 7. Forty- 
nine out of 51 boards reporting include representatives of the teachers, who are 
generally elected by the teachers themselves. 

In nine-tenths of the systems membership is compulsory for new teachers. In 
all the systems retirement is on the basis of from 20 to 40 years of service, most fre- 
quently 30 years. About one-half of the systems make provision also for retirement 



teachers' salaries, texure, and retirement pensions. 57 

on the basis of age, at from 50 to 75 years — most frequently 60 years for both men and 
women. Nearly six-sevenths of the systems have pro\dsions for disability — usually 
a proportion of the full pension equal to the proportion of the full years of ser\T.ce 
completed before retirement. 

Teachers contribute to the fund in about six-sevenths of the systems, most frequently 
1 or 2 per cent of their salaries. In about six-sevenths of the systems public funds 
are supplied also from indi\ddual sources, school or spec:^l taxes, deductions from 
teachers' pay, or from direct appropriations. The pubKc contribution is not related 
to that of the teachers in as many systems as would be expected. Where it is so 
related it most frequently equals the contribution of the teachers. 

Return of the teachers' contributions in case of resignation is pro"\dded for in about 
one-half of the systems, the refund being most frequently one-half of the contribution 
without interest. Retiurn in case of dismissal is provided in about one-half the sys- 
tems, this refund nearly always being all of the contribution without interest. Return 
in case of death is pro\i.ded in about one-third of the systems. 

The financial experience of these systems is as yet brief. The representative salary 
of the teachers in the 63 systems reported is $730 a year. The representative pension 
is $500 a year. The representative total contribution on the part of the teachers is 
$510, a frequent requirement being a sum equal to the first year's annuity. The 
prevailing tendency is toward the establishment of State, rather than local, systems. 
Certainly the State has advantages unapprochable by any local or private establish- 
ment. 

The provisions governing the different systems are varied. They show uniformity 
only as State wide or permissive, and contributory or noncontributory. Unfortu- 
nately, many of the existing systems have been organized without serious att«mps to 
insure security for the future by the employment of any sound and scientific basis. 
The result has been insolvency at the period when help is most needed by those who 
haA'e depended upon the system. In order that funds may be provided and ad- 
ministered in the most economical way, with justice to the beneficiaries and fairness 
to the public, and in order to promote the efficiency of the educational system, careful 
study should be given to the fundamental principles involved in successful pension 
systems. These have been worked out scientifically and authoritatively by actuarial 
experts. 

Certain recommendations concerning the necessary provisions of pension systems 
are given below. They are summarized from a report of the committee on salaries, 
pensions, and tenure of the National Education Association.. They are embodied 
in a suggested system for the State of Vermont, but can easily be adjusted to condi- 
tions in any other State. 

THE RETIREMENT BOARD. 

The pension system is administered by a board. A small one is most effective to 
secure centralized responsibility and administrative efficiency. The State and 
teachers are both represented ; the former by the executive officers who have charge 
of funds and insurance, the latter by elected representatives with terms of at least 
three years. 

Tenure of service should overlap, to give continuity of policy and knowledge of 
details on the part of a majority of members. The functions of the board are to frame 
by-laws and regulations to caiTy out the provisions of the act and to supervise, subject 
to expert advice, the maintenance of the funds. The services of a consulting actuary 
should be retained in large systems, or an actuarial investigation every three years 
provided for in small ones. 



58 MANUAL OF EDUCATIOlSrAL LEGISLATION. 

MEMBERSHIP. 

Membership should be compulsory for all new teachers, optional for those already 
in the ser\'ice wdthin a stated period of time, probably one year. This is necessary 
in order that the fundamental benefits on which the necessity for a pension is based 
may be accomplished. It is no hardship to any, because those entering the ser\ice 
do so knowing the conditions of appointment. 

RETIREMENT PLAN- 

Retirement of teachers should be provided for on the combined basis of age and 
service. When pro^dded on the basis of ser\dce alone, there is danger of instability 
because of over expensiveness. The principle is also opposed to the interests of society, 
since teachers may retire at the time of their gi'eatest efficiency. Retirement on the 
basis of age alone is inequitable, since the employer's contributions to the fund are 
made in recognition of ser\T.ce rendered, Retii'ement ages recommended are 60 or 
65 for voluntary, and 70 for compulsory retirement. The amount of service should 
be from 20 to 30 years. 

RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE. 

The amount of the retirement allowance for future teachers and those below the 
age of 45 who are in service at the time of the introduction of the pension plan will be 
determined by the amount contributed annually by and on behalf of such teachers; 
by the rate of interest earned or guaranteed; and by the rates of mortality. The 
retirement allowance will be the annual sum that can be purchased by the accumula- 
tions standing to a teacher's credit at the time of retirement. These sums can be 
predicted with scientific acciu'acy by the actuaries, so that teachers may know how 
much to expect from given contributions. Complications arising from systems which 
base the retirement allowance on the salary received at the time of retirement, or 
on the average salary for a few years preceding retirement, or by the payment of a 
flat rate, or by calculating on the basis of service, should be avoided. To enable 
teachers to make such arrangements as suit their circumstances, the plan gives the 
opportunity of increasing their contributions as their salaries increase. They have 
the selection of one of three options at the time of their retirement: (1) Annuity cov- 
ering the life of the annuitant; (2) annuity, guaranteeing also the return of contribu- 
tions remaining after death; (3) annuity for life, followed by life pension for the widow. 

Disability allowance. — The beneficiary may also retire on a basis of disability, after 
a certain minimum number of years of service, the annuity being based on the sums 
accumulated with the addition of annual payments from the State, sufficient to make 
the total annual pension one-half the average annual salary during active service. 

CONTRIBUTIONS. 

The pension fund is made up by the contribution of equal amounts from the teachers 
and the State, on the reserve plan. The teacher pays a stated amount, say 5 per 
cent of her salary; the State contributes the same, and both sums are placed at inter- 
est and to the credit of the particular teacher's fund. At retirement, the amount 
of the annuity is equal to about one-half the average annual salary of the annui- 
tant, and the percentage of salary collected must be large enough to insm'e this as a 
minimum. For teachers who have been in active service for some years before the 
introduction of the pension plan, a different aiTangement is necessary. They should 
contribute annually the same percentage of their salaries as other teachers in service; 
the State should pay annually on their account, in addition to the ordinary duplica- 
tion of the teachers' contributions, such sums as, with the other accumulations, will 
provide an annuity on the*same basis as that provided for the other teachers, narc ely, 
about one-half the average annual salary. The additional sums furnished by the 
State for this purpose decreases rapidly, and ultimately disappear entirely. 



SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS. 59 

ACCUMULATIONS. 

It is desirable to follow the principle observed in savings and insurance systems, 
that contributions of both teachers and the State be kept in individual accounts, 
credited to each teacher up to the time of retirement. It is advisable for the State 
to guarantee interest at 4 per cent; any sums earned above this may be placed in a 
reserve fund and employed to reduce appropriations in any one year. 

Return of contributions. — A scientifically planned system will return not only the 
teacher's contributions, but after a definite period of service probably that necessary 
to qualify for permanent appointment, those placed to his credit by the State. The 
total return may be the amount to his credit with interest at 3^ instead of 4 per cent; 
the difference in the rate for withdrawal and the rate for retirement being considered 
as some retm'n for the protection offered. It may be used to pay for the cost of 
administration . 

Systems sJiould he inaugurated witJi the advice and help of actuaries j 
and their soundness maintained hy periodical investigations. Some 
provision should he made for changes in existing rules from time to time, 
as desirahlCj to provide for future contingencies. Changes in existing 
contracts can he mxide only with the consent of those concerned. 

XL— SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS. 

The United States Commissioner of Education places the fol- 
lowing estimate upon the importance of school textbooks: 

In the elementary and secondary schools of the United States textbooks play a 
more important part than in similar schools of most other countries. In almost all 
subjects teachers and pupils depend on textbooks both for facts and for order of pre- 
sentation. Few teachers correct errors in statements of facts; fewer still attempt to 
improve or are able to improve faulty arrangement of material or illogical or unpeda- 
gogical development of subjects treated. Lessons are assigned, learned, and recited 
in the order given in the books. The adoption of textbooks for use in any school 
or system of schools, therefore, determines in large degree the courses of study. Of 
the three factors in every school — building and equipment, teachers, and textbooks — 
it can hardly be said that textbooks constitute the factor of least importance. Fre- 
quently the textbook is the teacher, while the man or woman called the teacher is 
only a kind of taskmaster or j^oiiceman driving the children through the pages of 
the textbook. This especially is true of a large number of one-room country schools 
in which the teachers "hear the lessons" of from 25 to 35 classes a day, giving from 
5 to 10 or 15 minutes to each lesson. It is therefore a matter of gi'eat importance 
that the best possible textbooks on all subjects of school study be put into the hands 
of teachers and children, and the methods by which this is attempted in the several 
States, cities, and individual schools must have interest for all school officers. 

The Nation has no uniform system for the publication and adop- 
tion of school textbooks. 

Two States, California and Kansas, print then*' own textbooks. 
Twenty-five States have State-wide, uniform system of adoption; 
five have county adoption; the rest resort to local adoptions by the 
districts, towns, or townships. 

Eleven of the 25 States having State-wide adoptions permit the 
State boards of education to make the selection of textbooks; the 



60 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



remaining 14 have special textbook commissions appointed by the 
governor. 

The tendency to give the State board of education power to select 
textbooks seems to be gaining in favor. 

The boards or commissions in 14 States require all competing book companies to 
submit samples of textbooks to the State suj^erintendent of public instruction with 
cost of each and to give suitable bonds for the fulfillment of any contract awarded 
them. They must comply with all rules governing the distribution and sale of 
books, either from specially selected depositories or direct from the State superin- 
tendent's office, or from the office of the publishers upon orders approved by the 
State department of public instruction. 

Exchange of old books is often provided at a fixed sum. Some States allow dealera 
the privilege of selling the adopted books at a price not over 10 or 15 per cent above 
the actual cost of production. 

QUESTION OF STATE UNIFORMITY OF TEXTBOOKS. 

State uniformity has proved cheaper than separate adoptions by 
the several districts. State contracts frequently provide that adopted 
textbooks shall not be sold elsewhere at a lower price. 

Textbook pubUshers can generally afford to make lower prices 
when they have the contract for an entire State. Local dealers, 
because of high freight rates, etc., frequently charge higher prices 
than they would under a fixed contract i^rice. 

Table 6. — States grouped according to the composition of the State boards of education 

and State textbooks commissions.^ 



State board of education composed of- 



State textbook commission consists of— 



Nonpolitical ap- 






State board of edu- 




pointments and 


Political officers 


State board of edu- 


cation and addi- 


Specially appoint- 


ex-officio educa- 


ser^^ng ex-ofhcio. 


cation. 


tional appointed 


ed board. 


tion officers. 






members. 




Arizona. 


Arkansas. 


Arizona. 




Alabaina.2 


California. 




California. 




Arkansas. 


Delaware. 


Florida. 


Delaware. 




Florida. 


Georgia. 




Georgia. 






Idaho. 




Idaho. 






Indiana. 




Indiana. 






Kansas. 








Kansas. 


I.ouisiana. 


Kentucky. 
Mississippi. 


Louisiana. 




Kentucky. 
Mississippi. 


Montana. 








Montana. 


New Mexico. 




New Mexico. 






Nevada. 






Nevada. 




Oklahoma. 


North Carolina. 


Oklahoma. 


North Carolina. 




South Carolina. 


Oregon. 


South Carolina. 




Oregon. 


Tennessee. 


Texas. 




Tennessee. 


Texas, 


Utah. 








Utah. 


Vu-ginia. 




Virginia. 






West Virginia. 


• 






West Virginia. 



1 Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 36. 

2 No State board of education. 



SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS. 



61 



Investigations upon the part of the Bureau of Education have 
shown that many educators advocate county or township adoptions 




y 

t 

e 

z 



^ 

O 



2 

O 
O 
CD 

LU 



as a happy medium between State uniformity and local district 
adoption. (See Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 36.) 



HISTORY OF FREE TEXTBOOKS. 



As early as 1818 Philadelphia provided free textbooks for the 
children attending its public schools. Massachusetts, in 1884, 
passed the first State-wide mandatory free textbook law. Free text- 
books in all public elementary schools are mandatory in 17 States, 13 



62 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



of these are mandatory in public secondary schools as well. In 20 
other States local school districts in the city, township, or county 
may supply free books. In practically all of the States books are 
furnished free to indigent children. 




to 
>^ 
o 
O 

CO 

id 



kj 
iij 

a: 



•It is generally agreed that the logical plan for giving every boy and 
girl in the United States an equal opportunity is for the State to 
furnish the textbooks free of charge. It is generally recognized 
that where compulsory educational laws are enacted and enforced, 
free textbooks should be provided for the children who are brought 
into school under the provisions of this law. 



SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS. 63 

Under the general system of education in the United States the three principal 
actors are the school plant, the teacher, and the textbook.^ The textbook is un- 
doubtedly emphasized much more than it should be, but it will hold its position of 
Importance at least as long as the present large proportion of untrained teachers are 
employed in the public school systems. The untrained and the partially trained 
teachers must "lean" on the textbook; they must rely upon it both for subject matter 
and for method of teaching. It is important, therefore, that good books, selected by com- 
petent authority, be in the hands of all children, rich and poor alike. In no other way can 
this requirement be met except through free books. 

The adoption of free textbooks does not add greatly to the cost of the public school 
system, hence the rate of taxation is not materially increased. 

From investigations made by the Bureau of Education the total annual sale of 
textbooks for each child enrolled in the public schools is approximately 78.3 cents. 
The total expenditure per child is perhaps 10 or 15 cents more than this amount which 
would include commissions, local dealers' profit, etc. 

The cost of textbooks will amount to a trifle more than 2 per cent of the total cost 
of maintenance, support, and equipment. 

There are many children too poor to pay for books and yet too proud to ask charity, 
and many others to whom the cost is such an important item that school authorities 
hesitate to change the books in use even when much better results might be obtained 
by a change. 

The principal arguments advanced in favor of free textbooks are:* 

1. Poor children whose parents are unable to purchase books, or are unable to do so 
without great sacrifice may attend" school as well equipped in this respect as the richer 
children. 

2. Uniformity of textbooks in each school administrative district is secured. 

3. Textbooks may be changed with little inconveniences whenever changes are 
desirable. 

4. Additional textbooks and supplementary books may be supplied. 

5. Schoolwork is not delayed at the beginning of the school year while parents obtain 
books for their children. 

The principal arguments advanced against free textbooks and in 
favor of the pupils purchasing their own books are: 

1. Parents and pupils are made to realize that they can not become wholly 
dependent on the State, but must continue to assume some of the responsibilities of 
education. 

2. On account of the cost, increased school taxes would be necessary or the amount 
available for salaries and other expenses would be decreased. 

3. Children should not be required to use books soiled by other children, as they 
are objectionable to the majority of children and parents both for esthetic and sanitary 
reasons. 

4. By purchasing textbooks home libraries may be built up. 

5. Books furnished free are not cared for as are those owned by the pupils. On the 
other hand, because the free textbooks are public property intrusted to the pupil, 
to be paid for if damaged or lost, and frequently inspected by the teachers, it is claimed 
that they are as well or better cared for. The care the books receive depends entirely 
upon the way in which the system is managed. 

The consensus of opinion among teachers, superintendents and school authorities 
wherever free books have been furnished to children is strongly in favor of the system. 
The reports are practically unanimous that the plan is successful. An inquiiy was 

1 Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 36. 



64 MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

made a few years ago among cities in the United States furnishing free textbooks. 
This inquiry asked for information as to whether the plan was generally satisfactory; 
74 cities reported yes, 6, partially, and no cities reported no. 

ADVISABILITY OF STATE-WIDE ADOPTIONS AND USE OF LIBERAL SUP- 
PLEMENTARY LISTS. 

The arguments given above for and against the advisabiUty of 
free textbooks and State uniformity all bear directly upon the ques- 
tion of State-wide adoptions. One of the main objections urged 
against State-wide adoptions is that the State must adopt a certain 
book for a definite period, three, four, to eight years, and that that 
book must remain the permanent textbook for that period. This is 
sometimes modified by a provision for revision of the textbook during 
this time or for the adoption of a revised edition during the term of 
the contract. Another objection, and possibly the most serious one, 
is that the books adopted in a State of diversified interests are not 
adaptable to the different sections of the State. This objection may 
be met by the use of a liberal supplementary list which allows the 
local authorities to choose the books best adapted to their locality. 

Over one-half of the States that now have uniform textbooks in 
the public schools provide a liberal supplementary list. 

QUESTION OF ADVISABILITY OF PUBLICATION OF TEXTBOOKS BY THE 

STATE. 

Reports from the two States, California and Kansas, that have 
adopted the plan of publication of textbooks by the State are as 
follows •} 

In California the legislation permitting the publication by the State of textbooks 
was passed in 1883, and it continued practically without change for 20 years. It is 
characterized by the author of the history of the State printing of textbooks in Cali- 
fornia as "a time of contention, strife and abuse, very disquieting to those who are 
responsible for the enterprise." The close of this period found the State publishing 
14 textbooks, and during this period four million books were made and sold to the 
people for a million and a half dollars. It was then determined that although the books 
must be manufactured at the State printing office, copyrights or plates could be leased 
or purchased from outside sources. 

The cost for the first two and one-half years, including the original stocking up of the 
schools, was roughly half a million dollars. There are about 400,000 children in the 
schools, so the total cost per child per year is approximately 50 cents. This includes 
the expense of distribution, but does not include such additional or supplementary 
books as are purchased by the local schools. The law forbids requiiing pupils to buy 
any books whatever. 

However, there are two sides to the matter. As a matter of cold fact, the books in the 
past cost quite as much under local authorship as they have since. It is possible that 
we could do it better now, however. The local authors have to be paid in one way 
or another; and the editorial work, the mechanical work of preparing the books or 
publication, add tt) the cost. The royalty represents the author's compensation, the 

1 Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1915, No. 36. 



SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS. 65 

expense of preparing the plates, the cost of exploiting the book into a well known and 
popular one that California would accept, the loss of unsuccessful books, and the pub- 
lisher's percentage of profit. 

In Kansas the follo\Ndng report from the State superintendent will 
explain- the conditions under which the law operates in that State. 

Under this provision the State school-book commission has just completed the adop- 
tion or approval of a complete list of high-school textbooks for the five-year period 
beginning May 1, 1915. The prices at which these books are to be furnished to dealers 
by the various publishers are uniformly 75 per cent of the publishers' list price f. o. b. 
Chicago, "with the privilege on the part of the State of immediate publication of the 
geometry- from plates furnished by its publisher at a royalty of 28 per cent on the list 
price, and a similar privilege as to the composition at the end of three years. It is, 
therefore, the plan of the State to reprint at once geometries for the use of pupils begin- 
ning next September. 

In addition to those previously mentioned as having already been published, the 
commission is planning to publish as rapidly as possible a complete series of com- 
mon-school texts, existing adoptions upon aU which expire within the next two 
years. 

Owing to the limited appropriation of $100,000 available for publication purposes, 
however, it will probably be impossible to provide for the printing of more than haU 
the list within that time. 

It is doubtful if many States will consider seriously the question 
of publishing their own textbooks. In the Massachusetts Legisla- 
ture of 1915 the State board of education was instructed to make a 
study of textbook publication by the State and report back in 1916 
on the advisabihty of its adoption. In the 1915 sessions of the 
State legislature in five States bills were introduced providing for 
the State printing of books, but none were passed. 

SOME POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION IN FRAMING LAWS GOVERNING 

TEXTBOOKS. 

1. Free textbooks give greater opportunity to all classes of pupils, 
cost less than when purchased by the individual, and aid the teachers 
in meeting the requirements of the course of study. 

2. Uniform State textbook laws should make provision for a lib- 
eral supplemental list of books in reading, histoiy, literature, geog- 
raphy, etc. 

3. The printing and publication of school textbooks by the State 
is a doubtful experiment under present conditions. 

4. The adoption of State textbooks by the State board of edu- 
cation seems to give general satisfaction. 

5. The time limit of adoption should not be over six years and 
provision may be made for changing certain textbooks every four 
or five years. 



66 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 





Law mandatory 

for all State 

schools. 


Law permissive 


, applicable to schools of— 




Elemen- 
tary. 


Second- 
ary. 


Entire 
State. 


Certain 
coimties. 


City or 
township. 


Local 

school 

district. 


Union 
free. 


Alabama 














X 


X 










X 




California ^ 


X 








Colorado 


t t 


X 

X 


X 




Connecticut 







Delaware 2 


X 
X 


X 


1 


i 


District of Columbia 


X 


1 








Florida 3 




X 








Georgia 














Idaho 




i . . 


X 









Illinois 




1 








Indiana 
















Iowa 








X 




X 




Kansas * 






X 






Kentucky 






.... 









Louisiana ^ ..... 


X 
X 
X 
X 














Maine ....... ............. 


X 
X 
X 


1 








Maryland .. .................. 


! . . 








Ma'>sachusetts .................. 


i 








Michigan .................... 


1 




X 
X 
X 




jf ijinesota 






1 






Mississippi .- ................... 






1 






Missouri ..•.•....-.......-..•.. 








X 








X 
X 
X 
X 
X 


X 
X 
X 
X 
X 




.... 






Nebraska 


1 


1 




Nevada 


1 




New Hampshire 









New Jersey 


1 


1 




New Mexico 










New York 








X 




X 


North Carolina 






1 






North Dakota 







1 




X 




Ohio 






1 


X 




Oklahoma 














Oregon 












' 


Pennsj'lvania 


X 
X 


X 
X 










Rhode Island 










South Carolina 






1 : 


South Dakota 





i 


X 


i 


Tennessee 








1 


Texas ^ 


' 




X 


i 


Utah 


X 
X 




i 


Vermont 






i 


Virginia 




X 




• 


Washington 


1 






X 




West Virginia' 


X 
X 






Wisconsin ' 1 ' 


X 




Wyoming 


X X 








1 




United States 










1 1 






1 Permissive in secondary scho 

2 Except Wilmington City. 

3 Two counties. 


ols. < Si 
5 F 


ipplement 
or New Or 


ary reader 
leans only 


3 free. 


6 District 
' Magiste 


s having special tax. 
rial districts. 



SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS. 



67 



Table 8. — Uniform textbooks. 
I Laws applicable to — 



Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District of Columbia. 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

IlUnois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

New Mexico 

New York 

North Carolina 

North Dakota 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina 

South Dakota 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 



United States. 



State. 



County. 



Township 

and 

district. 



Textbook laws providing for State adoptions should include the 
follow^ing features: 

(1) All cities having a population of 25,000 or over should be 
exempt from the use of books adopted for the State as a whole and 
be permitted to adopt their own textbooks. 

(2) There should be a textbook committee of professional educa- 
tors, carefully selected by and responsible to the State board of 
education. This committee should be large enough to include per- 
sons having special knowledge of the content and method of teach- 
ing of all the more important subjects of the elementary and high- 
school curriculum. It should not include any member of the 
board of education. Its members should be paid sufficient salaries 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • 



020 975 483 6 



68 



MANUAL OF EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION. 



to enable them to give all the time necessary to the duties of their 
office. 

(3) Since in most of the rural schools the textbook is followed 
closely, almost slavishly, the merits of the books and their fitness 
for use in the State should be considered by the textbook committee 
in making adoptions, and the recommendations of this committee 
should be final. Small differences in the prices of books are not 
sufficient to make any appreciable difference in the cost of the edu- 
cation of the children of the State, and should not be considered in 
the adoption of books. 

(4) All adoptions should be for a period of ^ye years, and it should 
not be lawful to change more than one-third of the total list of books 
in any one year. 

(5) All adoptions should be made in executive session of the text- 
book committee and after a year's study and trial of all the more 
important books of the titles to be adopted. 

(6) All books in series should be so changed that children pro- 
gressing normally through the schools may finish any subject with- 
out change of series. For example, when a new series of readers 
is adopted, the change of First Readers should be made one year, 
the change of Second Readers the next year, and so on. 

(7) New books to be used in any year should be adopted not less 
than four months before the time of the opening of schools so that 
there may be ample time for their manufacture and purchase and 
distribution. 

(8) The law should include all necessary guaranties against 
pohtical and financial influence in the adoption of books. 

o 



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